CANADIAN ENGLISH Prepared by the student of 2G-2

group
(CA) ELIZAVETA ZAKHAROVA
 HISTO
RY
- Canadian English was greatly influenced by
the settlers who came to Canada from Ireland,
Scotland and England in the nineteenth century,
fur traders, the pioneers of Upper Canada, the
homesteaders of the West
- Between 1825 and 1846 half a million
immigrants entered Canada from the British
Isles.
- Canadian English is neither American, nor
AMERICAN AND
British, but a complex different in many
respects from both
BRITISH
- Today, the United States influence INFLUENCE
dominates the mass media in Canada as well
as much of its commercial life
- Canadian education based on British
models
 1. The Maritimes (Nova Scotia, new Brunswick,
VARIE and prince Edward Island)

TIES 2. The Enof Quebec (Montreal and the Eastern

Township)
3. The Ottawa Valley- from minor variants found in
West (British Columbia)
4. The Prairies (Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the
Arctic North)
VOWELS
CANADIAN RISING
-it means that diphthongs are raised before voiceless consonants.
For example: ride [Ja-jd] - write [JAjt]; lie [la*j] - like [lAjk]; load [la-
wd] - lout [lAwt];
CANADIAN SHIFT
Because of vowel lengthing before voiced consonants and in open
syllable, the unraised vowels are allophonically longer than the
raised ones.
Another recently identified feature found among many Canadians
is a chain shift known as a Canadian Shift. For people with this
shift cot-caught are merged as /а/.
DIPTHONGS
a) the diphthong /aɪ/ before voiceless final consonants is typically
realized in Canada as raised /әi/
Examples: kite, tonight, invite, write...
b) the diphthong /aʊ/ before voiceless final consonants is typically
realized in Canada as a raised [ʌu] Examples: house, mouth,
without, about, trout, out, ....
But: The /ʌʊ/ allophone is sometimes perceived by Americans as a
variety of /u/, which leads to popular claims that Canadians say ‘oot
and aboot’ for out and about” [u:]
 MONOPHTHONGS
a) [ɔ:] is pronounced as [a:]
CONSON
ANTS
CONSONANTS
a) /hw/: the presence or absence of voiceless /h/ before /w/.
Examples: which (RP: /wɪtʃ/ or /hwɪtʃ/), CA / wɪtʃ/; why, whether, whipped, ...
This variable is represented by the presence or absence of /h/ before /w/ in
words spelled with ˂wh˃. Canadian English shares a general North American
shift from /hw/ to /w/.
b) Palatal glide after /t/, /d/, or /n/ before /u/.
Examples: tune, new, duke (RP [dju:k]. CA [dju:k] or [du:k], mature...
This variable involves the presence (as in British English) or absence (as in
American English) of the palatal glide /j/ after /t/, /d/, or /n/ and before /u/
CONSONANTS
c) rhoticity
Examples: barber
As for the consonants, in contrast with British English- Received
Pronunciation (RP), the most important distributional difference is
that Canadian English is rhotic while RP is nonrhotic, i.e.
Canadian English maintains /r/ before consonants and in word-
final position, e.g. barber / ˈbα:rbәr/, as opposed to RP in which /r/
is realized only prevocalically, thus in BE /ˈbα:bә/. This feature in
Canada is shared with most of their American neighbors.
CONSONANTS
d) -ing is pronounced as /in/, /iŋ/ and /әn/
The three variants of pronunciation are /in/, /iŋ/ and /әn/, the first
of which is Canadianism in the sense that it is more prevalent in
Canada than in U.S.
“Concerning the three variants, the /әn/ pronunciation, so
frequently used in the United States, was very infrequently used in
Ottawa”
CONSONANTS
e) Medial intervocalic ˂t˃ realized as an alveolar flap; t – voicing
Examples: Ottawa, little, butter, out of ... (RP: [mætә]. CA [mæt̬
әr]
The stronger stress on initial syllables of words such as city, butter,
little, better, etc. naturally favors the voiced /t̬ / in nearly all
varieties of North American English. Medial intervocalic ˂t˃ is
reduced to a “flap” – a sound alike /d/, but the tongue only briefly
touches the alveolar ridge.
THE PRONUNCIATION OF THE
SUFFIXES
a) suffix -ine is pronounced as /aɪn/ rather than /ɪn/;
b the suffix –ile as /aɪl/ rather than /әl/,
c) prefixes such as anti- and semi- with the final vowel /ɪ/ rather
than /ai/.
DISTINCTIVE PRONUNCIATION
OF SOME WORDS
DISTINCTIVE PRONUNCIATION
OF SOME WORDS
 SPELL
ING
- there is a trend to re-insert the u in
the words like colour, labour,
neighnour
 VIDEO
MATERIAL
S
1. All aboot Canadian accents 3. British vs American vs
https://www.youtube.com/watch? Canadian ENGLISH Differences!
v=8YTGeIq4pSI&ab_channel=J.J.McCu (PART 2) (+ Free PDF & Quiz)
llough
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=btuAQoPPRPY&t=7s
2. All About Canadian English and the
Canadian English Accent! 🍁 (Compared
Mostly to American English)

https://youtu.be/l157EU7WXr8
 TOPICAL
VOCABULAR
Y
1. Toque (tuque)
2. Loonie
3. Washroom
4. Double double
5. A two four (2-4)
 QUESTI
ONS
1. What languages have influenced Canadian English throughout its
history and why?
2. What is the example of the British Influence in Canadian English?
3. What happens to the diphthong /aɪ/ before voiceless final consonant?
4. What is the peculiarity about /r/ sound in Canadian English?
5. How would you pronounce the word “salmon” if you were a
Canadian?
6. What is the peculiarity about the suffix -ine in Canadian English?
 THANK YOU FOR
YOUR ATTENTION!