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Ah thank you Vichel, When you explain it I can see what you mean. But when the Americans say it I hear them saying A Boot. Like the boot you wear on your foot. Cause to me we do not say it that way. But when you say it sounds like a-bow-oot that makes sense.
Ah thank you Vichel, When you explain it I can see what you mean. But when the Americans say it I hear them saying A Boot. Like the boot you wear on your foot. Cause to me we do not say it that way. But when you say it sounds like a-bow-oot that makes sense.
You're welcome. I probably only noticed it when I moved back to Oz. And no, like you say, it's not 'A Boot'. It's that very subtle, almost indiscernible, oot at the end of it. I even say it. My accent's a blend of Canadian/Oz and other Australians always notice the way I say about (a-bow-oot).
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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In Degrassi (moreso the old) the accents sounded American until you heard them say 'about' and a few other words like 'sorry'. It's funny, because the rest is almost exactly American and then you have a few words that sound very different.
I agree. Many Canadians pronounce "about" more like [ah-BOAT]. My fiance is Canadian (native of Vancouver) and he very much says ou words like that. The 'ou' in "about" or most words pronounced similarly (shout, house, mouse to name a few) is pronounced like a quick long o sound, rather than an "ow" sound.
Some people from Minnesota and some other places (Alaska, Dakota states, some parts of Michigan and Wisconsin) here in the states pronounce some words like many in various parts of Canada. The accents sound similar.
I also think in various parts of Canada, especially western, there is a heavy UK influence on inflections, accents, general pronuniciation of words. PRO-gress rather than PROG-ress, [Toe-WARD] rather than [Toard] or [Torrud], Mum rather than Mom, [uh-GAINST] rather than [uh-ginst] and so on. Strong British influences.
I can very -easily- hear a trickle down of both Scottish and Irish accents in many today's Canadian speakers although they are far removed from that part of their heritage if those ethnic strains are in their background. I think because of how the country was settled, those ethnic accents greatly influenced over many decades how many Canadians in various areas would speak today by default.
My fiance's father is originally from eastern Canada and when I hear him speak, I can so strongly hear a Scottish influence that it isn't even funny. But when I bring this up, of course they can't discern it because they are so used to speaking that way and being around that. They don't think they have accents, but it's overwhelming to me when I hear them speak. Not subtle at all. I can hear where it comes from immediately.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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^ He wasn't from Newfoundland, was he? The 'Newfie' accent is quite distinct from Canadian - figures also because it wasn't even a PART of Canada until 1949!
This word specifically is pronounced quite differently in America and Canada. In the states it's a-bowt (as in bow down, not bow, like a ribbon); Canada, it's a-boat. In Canada The Titanic would be a story a-boat a boat.
Sorry is also distinctly pronounced between the two nations. In America, it's Sar-ee, in Canada it's sore-ee.
In my experience, the upper Great Plains (NoDak, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan) has a very Canadian-sounding accent. I've never heard 'aboot'; I always hear 'aboat'. But one of the best ways to spot a Canadian is intonation. It's hard to describe, but there's a certain intonation that differs slightly from the US version.
The dead giveaway for a Canadian is when you say 'the sun Sean down' rather than 'the sun shown down.' But it's pretty hard to contrive a situation to get someone to articulate the past tense of the verb 'to shine'.
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