Speech pattern and typographical variations across Canada - Page 34

Docere · #**661** Posted **Jul 29, 2014, 8:24 PM**

Thanks!

Docere · #**662** Posted **Jul 29, 2014, 9:09 PM**

Here's an interesting accent - Phil Esposito, born and raised in the west end (Italian area) of Sault Ste. Marie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2v4rHgRyUo

vid · #**663** Posted **Jul 30, 2014, 2:00 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Docere

Here's an interesting accent - Phil Esposito, born and raised in the west end (Italian area) of Sault Ste. Marie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2v4rHgRyUo

I don't even detect an accent there, it sounds just like dozens of other people I've met in Thunder Bay.

kool maudit · #**664** Posted **Jul 30, 2014, 12:21 PM**

italian-canadian accents have a lot of commonalities whether they're from montreal, toronto or other places. strangely, they don't sound very much like italians-from-italy speaking in english.

esquire · #**665** Posted **Jul 30, 2014, 1:22 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by wg_flamip

Like RP, Mid-Atlantic English was an invented dialect acquired by the American upper class (especially in the Northeastern US). For many years it was also cultivated by those in the theatre and film as well, serving as the neutral accent of the time. It fell out of vogue after WWII and you'll almost never hear it spoken now even among those few living people left who were trained in it.

That accent is probably about as affected as it gets in North America, but there is a certain charm to it... part of me is sorry that it has disappeared. At least that's how I feel whenever I watch Breakfast at Tiffany's.

SignalHillHiker · #**666** Posted **Jul 30, 2014, 2:09 PM**

Mary Walsh has a pretty good example of our equivalent of the Mid-Atlantic accent - lower class St. John's with proper enunciation enforced by strict Irish Catholic schooling.

It's not something you'd ever hear here among a child not old enough to attend school, but it's quite common among those who still go through the Catholic private system.

• Video Link

It's almost upper class, really, except for the Ls.

Acajack · #**667** Posted **Jul 30, 2014, 2:18 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by kool maudit

italian-canadian accents have a lot of commonalities whether they're from montreal, toronto or other places. strangely, they don't sound very much like italians-from-italy speaking in english.

This is true of Italian-American accents as well. All of which is totally normal because those people living outside Italy have a much more intimate and also different relationship with the English language than most anyone in Italy would.

kwoldtimer · #**668** Posted **Jul 31, 2014, 1:14 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Docere

Some Montreal accents:

Irwin Cotler (Jewish): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt6vbqDkF1w

Gino Vannelli (Italian): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5HVYT3wB-s

I must have a tin ear - I hear only the slightly pinched English of a typical anglo-Montrealer when listening to that Vannelli interview. I wonder if he spoke English or Italian at home?

kwoldtimer · #**669** Posted **Jul 31, 2014, 1:30 AM**

I had occasion on the weekend to listen to a speaker with a rural Eastern Ontario accent. I thought at first that he might be a Newfoundlander, but he was born and raised near Winchester, south of Ottawa.

SignalHillHiker · #**670** Posted **Jul 31, 2014, 1:31 AM**

*Slap*

kwoldtimer · #**671** Posted **Jul 31, 2014, 1:39 AM**

Seriously - I had an in-law from a farming family outside Westport, Ontario (Rideau Valley between Kingston and Ottawa). She was constantly being asked if she was from Newfoundland.

SignalHillHiker · #**672** Posted **Jul 31, 2014, 1:56 AM**

By the peasantry, surely. Jesus.

Razor · #**673** Posted **Jul 31, 2014, 2:08 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Seriously - I had an in-law from a farming family outside Westport, Ontario (Rideau Valley between Kingston and Ottawa). She was constantly being asked if she was from Newfoundland.

^ Ha That's the Ottawa valley rural accent...People from Lanark county, Renfrew etc. have a very pronounced accent like you probably heard.."Good day"= Gidday etc.
I never hear "Lad" used as much for men/boys as much as out in those parts..."Gidday laads!"

vid · #**674** Posted **Jul 31, 2014, 3:07 AM**

I've had quite a few people ask me if I am British over the years.

Docere · #**675** Posted **Jul 31, 2014, 6:03 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

I must have a tin ear - I hear only the slightly pinched English of a typical anglo-Montrealer when listening to that Vannelli interview. I wonder if he spoke English or Italian at home?

I think Vannelli is a 3rd generation Canadian but probably grew up in a heavily Italian area. My guess is his mother tongue is English but has quite a bit of familiarity with Italian. He's also been living in Oregon for a while.

What about Cotler's accent?

Docere · #**676** Posted **Jul 31, 2014, 6:09 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

I had occasion on the weekend to listen to a speaker with a rural Eastern Ontario accent. I thought at first that he might be a Newfoundlander, but he was born and raised near Winchester, south of Ottawa.

A friend of mine from Belleville says that Randy Hillier in the legislature sounds like a rural Eastern Ontarian trying to sound "smart" - but let have a few beers and he'll lapse into Eastern Ontario farmer speak.

Here's Hillier at Queen's Park:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sUFtfDC3Xk

Here's Hillier chumming with the constituency - standing against "political correctness" in defending Christmas from "bureaucratic weiners" (I posted this earlier):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q81viI_IPxg

kwoldtimer · #**677** Posted **Jul 31, 2014, 12:12 PM**

[QUOTE=Docere;6675661]I think Vannelli is a 3rd generation Canadian but probably grew up in a heavily Italian area. My guess is his mother tongue is English but has quite a bit of familiarity with Italian. He's also been living in Oregon for a while.

What about Cotler's accent?[/QUOTE]

Yes, quite noticeable and shared by many Ashkenazi Jews from Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. Sometimes sounds to me more like an American than a Canadian accent.

esquire · #**678** Posted **Jul 31, 2014, 1:24 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Yes, quite noticeable and shared by many Ashkenazi Jews from Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. Sometimes sounds to me more like an American than a Canadian accent.

Cotler always struck me as having a very distinctive accent. Before hearing him speak, I don't think I ever heard a native-born Canadian make such a strong distinction between marry and merry, for example. His accent seems one-of-a-kind... I chalked it up to a professorial style more than anything else.

I can't say that I recall hearing that accent coming from other people in Canada. It vaguely, but not exactly, reminds me of some Israeli politicians you might hear on TV, like Benjamin Netanyahu.

Acajack · #**679** Posted **Jul 31, 2014, 1:38 PM**

I posted a caricatural Valley accent here earlier...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acajack

Carictural (Upper) Ottawa Valley accent:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUEwVypbstI

Now, I find the intonations here a bit sharper than the Newfoundland accent, which tends to be softer and more rounded.

But I have met people from the Valley who have softer intonations and more rounded speech (not sure if I am describing this right), and they sound a heck of a lot like Newfoundlanders.

I've even asked them if they were from there myself, and I don't often do this with people based on accent alone, unless it's extremely obvious.

Acajack · #**680** Posted **Jul 31, 2014, 1:56 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Yes, quite noticeable and shared by many Ashkenazi Jews from Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. Sometimes sounds to me more like an American than a Canadian accent.

I've noticed that American nasal thing with them as well.

Italians who have English as a main language (in Montreal only though) often have a northeastern US twist to their accent also.

Italian-Canadians in Ottawa and Toronto usually sound like regular Anglo-Canadians to me.