There are a whole bunch of other words where this distinct diphthong also happens, such as the famous about , as well as couch , mouth as noun south , mouse , lout and so on, but not in words like loud , browse , mouth as verb , gouge , or vow. Listen to Gretchen McCulloch, a Canadian, pronounce these words. Is this just random, or do these words have something in common?
If you place your hand on your throat while you switch between the sounds sssss and zzzzz seriously, try it! What about the rest of the sounds in the words with Canadian raising? Now what about the words without Canadian raising? Here are some example recordings of both types, and here are some diagrams of the vowels. If Canadians pronounce house and about with this other diphthong, where did anyone get the idea that they say hoose and aboot? So if Canadians pronounce house and about with this other diphthong, where did anyone get the idea that they say hoose and aboot?
Basically, categorical perception means that your brain tries to perceive the world according to the categories that it already knows, and it takes a lot of new evidence to get it to form another category. But to people who actually do hear Canadian Raising on a regular basis, and therefore do have these two categories already established in their minds, saying that the Canadian pronunciation of about sounds like aboot is about as silly as talking about red pumpkins.
Pingback: Northern Cities Vowel Shift vs. Canadian Vowel Shift Dialect Blog. Anecdotally, when I lived on the New Brunswick border Campebello Island I heard the pronunciation frequently; maybe 1 out of 8 times. Just a theory. The more annoyed they get, though, the funnier the stereotype seems to get. Diversity of dialects is not unique to the States, and any educated American knows this. So of course there are a variety of pronunciations for the same word.
The thing that makes it so funny to me is that Canadians pronounce most everything else very similarly to our own pronunciation, yet this one sound is so alien and bizarre to us that we can spot a Canadian in 3 seconds of dialog and vice versa. Dude, get over yourself. Not everything is about you, oh great American one. Sometimes, we just want to have a conversation aboot it for our own benefit and entertainment…. It was a dramaticized scene during halloween when kids were going trick or treating so there was a high chance of polar bear attack happening but the residents still did it.
The show was about how fewer and fewer bears came into town because they were being affected by ice melting etc. Those who did wander into town were carefully tranquilized and helicopter lifted out of town when they were caught in a big bear barrel trap. Hoot the noooo. Macy wakes up in Toronto. He has no passport, and claims of being American fall on deaf ears. The actor they chose for the invigilator of the drunk tank is also wearing RCMP clothing even though RCMP is a federal protective force, and he would be in a municipal police station , and speaks in a very strong central Canadian accent seemingly putting it on too.
Fact is, that cop would be made fun of by me for his over-the-top accent, leading me to believe the actor is probably American. Who in their right mind would just begin belting our national anthem!!?!?! In a prison? The cops in Toronto are nearly indistinguishable from police in say, New York or Detroit. This is Toronto, not Prince Edward Island; we have gun crimes, murder, rape, all the newsworthy crimes. Where did they ever get this idea? Or are they just plain making shit up? Probably the latter.
Apparently Bob and Doug Mackenzie have had a lingering impression on the Americans. Tells you something about theit intellect though. Same thing in Quebec…. I wish people would take the time to learn our differences or at least understand the concept that there WILL be differences from province to province, just like in any other country. You Canadian cats need to chill. Canadian television probably abounds in what Canadians would not even notice as false Americanisms.
I was recently watching a Canadian public service announcement, depicting a 19th-century Mountie arresting an American for crossing the border and claiming land. The American was depicted as a drunken, illiterate brute who was threatening the Mountie with a pistol. And this PSA was less than 10 years old! Can you understand that? Stop watching T. Surely other puerile, impressionable fools would follow suit however. And in the absence of basing what you call an impersonation on fact, what other source might they have taken it from?
Neither group is correct. Having said all that, it certainly begs the question with regard to the ad hominem attack on a post because of a typo. Great post, Frank! I had aboot enough of that guy…. You may think yourself above the influence of TV, but you apparently still make large-scale assumptions about Canadian attitudes on the basis of one PSA you saw. American gun-rights proponents often say things that would cause most Canadians to view them as dangerous maniacs who have no business owning a salad fork, much less a gun.
Pingback: A Canadian Greeting to All! With the First Nations. Pingback: Why D. Is Important Dialect Blog. This is absolutely false. In fact, I had never heard of this before until I listened to these Canadians talking. Then I started hearing it all the time. This is how we sound to American ears. Go watch the final episode of Smallville. Last time I checked, we were made up of 10 provinces and 3 territories. People need to stop lumping us all together and try to remember that pronunciation and accents differ from region to region.
Shocking, I know. There is no drastic differences between someone from B. C and Ontario except the person in Ontario has slightly more pronounced Canadian Raising. But otherwise it was very close. I was once talking to a girl from the Adirondacks, and somehow this came up.
I am Canadian. Have lived in several provinces, and work in the oil patch with people from all over the country. Perhaps some Canadians say it in some random section of some valley somewhere, but generalizing saying we all pronounce it that way is a farce and complete joke. But this article completely reinforces that Canadians have no sense of humor yes, humor. Not humour.
Stop trying to be European, you unoriginal faggots. Apparently no one has recorded Halogonians and Dartmouthians, especially from Woodside area. They make be hearing it with the vowel in book. They took an usual word, about, and created an urban myth with it!!! I start laughing everytime I hearing a Canadian saying [root] instead of route. I have to follow the root…the root of this tree here or the one of the tree over there? Can I ask why you are trying to undo your Mary-merry-marry merger?
That merger is very widespread and standard in North America. I also imagine that it would be very difficult if not impossible to undo it successfully. I hear this version in men over the age of 35 typically of lower evonomic status. This version is more common in women and those with post secondary education.
Very lilted sounding. I hear this version mostly in elderly women. The last form is the weakest. I hear this mostly from wealthy to upper middle class young women. Email Address. Dialect Blog. Skip to content. Comments Policy. It May be Genetics! American English Pronunciation. Just like not all Americans have the same accent, like, say, someone from New York City compared to someone from Texas, not all English-speaking Canadians speak the same way either!
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