11–20 of 52 posts
Additionally, praat is really interesting software from the University of Amsterdam that allows you to analyze speech recordings and see what the vowels and consonants actually are. http://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/praat/
The accents in north america are split east-west, not north-south. I'm from Vancouver but whenever I am in the eastern US they think I'm from california because I don't sound have the ontario/maritime accent they recognize as "canadian". "aboot" doesn’t exist in the west. Never has.
I'm in LA and every time someone finds out I'm Canadian, they say, "But you don't have an accent" or "You don't sound Canadian", and on the rare occasion, people refer to my Vancouver accent as "fake Canadian accent". I just half-smile or say "I don't know", instead of explaining how provincial their "typical Canadian accent" sounds to Vancouverites.
Can confirm, kafkaesque must be Canadian. My most Canadian moment was apologizing while jumping out of someone's way while they were barreling down the sidewalk on a skateboard.
> The English version of “baguette” stops rhyming with “vague-ette,” Coming from central Canada, "bag" always rhymes with "vague". I get funny looks sometimes when "lag" comes up in conversation here in the Pacific NW.
The accents in north america are split east-west, not north-south. I'm from Vancouver but whenever I am in the eastern US they think I'm from california because I don't sound have the ontario/maritime accent they recognize as "canadian". "aboot" doesn’t exist in the west. Never has.
I get people asking me if I'm from Seattle all the time, I guess because I sound 'murrican.
The accents in north america are split east-west, not north-south. I'm from Vancouver but whenever I am in the eastern US they think I'm from california because I don't sound have the ontario/maritime accent they recognize as "canadian". "aboot" doesn’t exist in the west. Never has.
For some reason, there is a popular misconception (even among some linguists!) that "Canada" is some kind of unified linguistic zone, or that somehow it is "close enough" (maybe people are just lazy). Whereas English diversity in the US has been studied to very fine level of detail, Canada remains mostly a blob on most maps[0]. Of course, anyone who lives, say, in urban Ontario will immediately notice the differences…
The accents in north america are split east-west, not north-south. I'm from Vancouver but whenever I am in the eastern US they think I'm from california because I don't sound have the ontario/maritime accent they recognize as "canadian". "aboot" doesn’t exist in the west. Never has.
> The English version of “baguette” stops rhyming with “vague-ette,” Coming from central Canada, "bag" always rhymes with "vague". I get funny looks sometimes when "lag" comes up in conversation here in the Pacific NW.
By central Canada, do you mean Ontario? I've lived in Manitoba for decades and I don't know anyone who pronounces "bag" that way.
The accents in north america are split east-west, not north-south. I'm from Vancouver but whenever I am in the eastern US they think I'm from california because I don't sound have the ontario/maritime accent they recognize as "canadian". "aboot" doesn’t exist in the west. Never has.
I'm in LA and every time someone finds out I'm Canadian, they say, "But you don't have an accent" or "You don't sound Canadian", and on the rare occasion, people refer to my Vancouver accent as "fake Canadian accent". I just half-smile or say "I don't know", instead of explaining how provincial their "typical Canadian accent" sounds to Vancouverites.
There is a certain neutrality to the western-canadian accent, much like that of Minnesota. Take the word Going or anything else ending with ing. In much of the US it is pronounced "goin", dropping the g. In the UK it has become "going-g" ... they add an extra g sound. Right in the middle are the canadians and minnesotans who pronounce the word as written.
Canadians, watch this vid to see the similarity with minnesota: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-BCxjYoOl0 (I know this guy)
- JavaScript - Americano - Pasta
I studied linguistics in school and was fascinated by the linguistic shifts in Germanic languages long ago. But it seems a shame for it to be happening now as pronunciation becomes homogenized.