Speech pattern and typographical variations across Canada

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

I say it like Rousseau. Dayda on its own, but "DATa" when it's attached to another word, as in "data plan". There could be a slight difference in how we pronounce it, but it's not a foundational one.

For example, a really strong difference are TH and ING words. If not fully enunciated, most North Americans would clip the G and say something close to "nuthin'." Newfoundlanders, 99.9% of the time, clip the "th" instead so it'd be "nudding", with a very strong D and ING. Clipping the g is actually uncomfortable for us in our throats, try it. It's like trying to talk with your teeth it's so far ahead from the normal place in the throat we speak from.

Apart from Saskatchewan, I don't think that is a feature of Canadian English.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Loco101

I disagree. There have been computer programs with American-English spellcheck in Canada since the early 1990s. I don't find the spelling has changed in English-speaking Canada. There have also been some who use pretty much only American spellings even since the early days of Canada. I work for the federal government and many of the programs I use have U.S. English spellcheck yet we don't care and use colour, flavour, centre, etc. (hey they are underlined in red on my screen right now but I could care less!!)

What surprises me most is that there are very few computer programs that have a Canadian-English spellcheck. It's not as though it's that big of a deal to have it and making it is not actually a complicated thing. I guess many of us just tolerate the fact it we don't have it available rather than demand it.

The "Canadian English" language setting does exist though. It may not be systematically everywhere but it's out there. I have it on the computer I am working on right now which has MS Office 2016.

It's odd though that Français (Canada) seems to be a more systematically available choice when its written version is virtually identical to Français (France). And most words that are specific to Quebec like espadrilles or brassière are in the European French lexicon anyway - they just have different meanings or levels of usage here.

If you take two newspapers from either side of the Atlantic, surprisingly enough there is a noticeably greater difference in the language and spelling between the New York Times and the Times of London, than there is between Le Journal de Montréal and Le Parisien...

[Acajack]

On CBC this morning, their national affairs reporter following the PM to China referred to International Trade Ministre François-Philippe Champagne.

She pronounced his last name "sham-payn" as if it was sparkling wine, instead of "shaum-pang", which is what I'd expect from an anglo who's at least making an effort to say it right.

Par for the course for a hairdresser in Weyburn, but for a reporter whose beat is Parliament Hill in Ottawa?

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Acajack

On CBC this morning, their national affairs reporter following the PM to China referred to International Trade Ministre François-Philippe Champagne.

She pronounced his last name "sham-payn" as if it was sparkling wine, instead of "shaum-pang", which is what I'd expect from an anglo who's at least making an effort to say it right.

Par for the course for a hairdresser in Weyburn, but for a reporter whose beat is Parliament Hill in Ottawa?

Wouldn't it be "shaum-pan-(yuh)"? i find "shaum-pang" (as I sound that out) to be very odd.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Wouldn't it be "shaum-pan-(yuh)"? i find "shaum-pang" (as I sound that out) to be very odd.

Sure. I struggled with it.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Sure. I struggled with it.

I wasn't sure - "Impossible" seems to have only three syllables in Quebec, while in France it has four!

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

I was just in Toronto and I really noticed the Canadian accent. When you're used to it, it kind of fades away but after five years it was like "so is this guy Scottish?"

I've always been in the camp that views the Canadian accent in English as very neutral, but I am finding I am noticing it more and more. Perhaps it's not being exposed to it as much every day in the ambient soundscape, or maybe my ear is just more attuned as I get older. Or it could be that the accent has evolved and become more distinctive (vis-à-vis the American one).

In any event, I remember that growing up in the Maritimes and Ontario and going to school / university as an "anglo" and effectively living as one of them, we all thought that Canadians sounded basically the same as "mainline" Americans. (But obviously not the same as outliers like Texans.)

I am not sure of the reason for this mindset but it was certainly the prevailing view among everyone I knew.

None of this affected our Canadian pride and nationalism where there actually was a strong eagerness to distinguish ourselves from Americans - though this did not extend to our accents (nor to popular culture of course!).

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by Acajack

On CBC this morning, their national affairs reporter following the PM to China referred to International Trade Ministre François-Philippe Champagne.

She pronounced his last name "sham-payn" as if it was sparkling wine, instead of "shaum-pang", which is what I'd expect from an anglo who's at least making an effort to say it right.

Par for the course for a hairdresser in Weyburn, but for a reporter whose beat is Parliament Hill in Ottawa?

That is kind of funny how the name was pronounced considering it was an Ottawa reporter for a major network. I know how to pronounce that name as I know a few people in Timmins with that last name. I know some people who always have their names mispronounced in largely anglophone areas. A few of the last names I can think of off the top of my head: Forget, Lemieux, Deschênes.

[SignalHillHiker]

This is fantastic. He's a celebrity and fan favourite solely because his surname is Newfoundland slang for a delinquint/chav/whatever.

And he's cool with it. I love this guy!

http://www.thetelegram.com/sports/other-...alling-at-mile-one-hes-loving-it-167453/

[Razor]

"Shut the lights" or "Close the door"?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Razor

"Shut the lights" or "Close the door"?

"Close the lights" and "pass the vacuum" too!

Also, is "to pose a question" (instead of "to ask a question") proper English?

If not, that last one cuts both ways. You also sometimes hear "demander une question" which is a calque from English. Proper French is "poser une question".

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Loco101

I know some people who always have their names mispronounced in largely anglophone areas. A few of the last names I can think of off the top of my head: Forget, Lemieux, Deschênes.

This definitely happens although I didn't realize how much intuition English-speaking Canadians normally have when it comes to reading French until I saw some Americans with zero knowledge of French attempt to do the same thing. American renditions of French names tend to be really strange.

French spelling also seems okay until you try to explain it. Those three letters are silent. Also you can't really make that vowel sound anyway. Okay, so maybe it makes sense just to make up something semi-random that's easy for English speakers.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Acajack

"Close the lights" and "pass the vacuum" too!

Also, is "to pose a question" (instead of "to ask a question") proper English?

If not, that last one cuts both ways. You also sometimes hear "demander une question" which is a calque from English. Proper French is "poser une question".

To pose a question is fine in English. It could mean to "ask a question" or to "raise a question", depending on the context.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Razor

"Shut the lights" or "Close the door"?

What's the issue with "close the door"?

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Also, is "to pose a question" (instead of "to ask a question") proper English?

If not, that last one cuts both ways. You also sometimes hear "demander une question" which is a calque from English. Proper French is "poser une question".

Pose is fine in English, but unless otherwise explicitly clear in context, I would interpret that as the person playing Devil's advocate, like they have no personal interest in asking the question but just believe the situation requires it should be brought up and since no one else has, voila.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by Acajack

"Close the lights" and "pass the vacuum" too!

Also, is "to pose a question" (instead of "to ask a question") proper English?

If not, that last one cuts both ways. You also sometimes hear "demander une question" which is a calque from English. Proper French is "poser une question".

I hear "close the lights" a lot in Timmins.

Another one:

"Take a decision"

Francophones and even a number of anglophones here will often put "the" before many things like they do with le or la in French. Instead of saying "I'm shopping at Timmins Square" they will say "I'm shopping at the Timmins Square."

Many here, especially francophones will say "there" at the end of many sentences. For example: "You know my friend there. She is busy there. " They do it the same way when speaking in French when they say "là" at the end of sentences.

[kwoldtimer]

What's the issue with "take a decision"? That's standard English.

[Architype]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

What's the issue with "take a decision"? That's standard English.

Have never heard this before, maybe only in Central Canada, I Have only heard "make a decision", and the meaning is different.

[SignalHillHiker]

I haven't heard "take a decision" either.

[SignalHillHiker]

This is cute - my mother is no better.

http://www.cbc.ca/life/greatcanadianbaki...ecipe-is-beyond-measure-really-1.4427374