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Just some observations I've made listening to Canadian speakers from west of Quebec.
1) When Americans would make an 'i' sound sometimes it sounds more like an 'e' in Canada. ie 'melk' for 'milk'. Also Americans will often make e's sound like 'i's while Canadians stay true to the suggested phonetics ... for example American 'happin' vs Canadian 'happ-EN'
2) the 'ou' dipthong often sounds more like 'bow and arrow' rather than 'take a bow'. So 'about' is pronounced as "a-boat" rather than 'a bowt'. Usually this effect is somewhat muted and sounds somewhere in between these two sounds. It's definitely not the 'aboot' you hear in Geordie and some Scottish accents though perhaps that might occur in certain parts of the Maritimes?
This occurs not only in 'about' but also in 'house', 'out' and some other words.
3) Canadians tend to 'up talk', that is their sentences rise in pitch. This is also common in the western United States and I find this is probably one of the features that binds the accent in Vancouver to its American siblings on the west coast.
4) Use of the interjection 'eh'. Canadians say this and don't even realize it. Yes, you DO say it, trust me. Maybe not all Canadians but many do and it's common on both sides of the country.
5) The 'a' in words like 'bag' and 'have' sounds a bit like saying 'ahhh' at the doctor's while in America it often sounds like the a in 'apple'. Certain people in the Pacific Northwest will say this vowel the Canadian way.
6) Some vowels are lengthened and pronounced almost as if they were dipthongs. Like 'place' and 'item' are pronounced like "Play-ace" and "Ey'e-DEM" while in General American they are pronounced "playce" and "eye-dim".
On the other hand, a major similarity between American and Canadian English is that t's often sound like d's or are completely omitted. For example "Toronto" sounding like "Taranna" or "Tranna" is a feature that's very much shared with American English. Canadian accents are also generally rhotic and I find the young female speakers especially so.
I think the reason Canadians and Americans sound similar to people is because both accents pronounce their r's and pronounce certain t's as d's, these are the definitive features of North American English accents though some North American accents are still barely hanging on to non-rhoticity such as the Boston accent.
good observations.I find that most Canadians are very sloppy in their pronounciations. very few people will pronounce the g on the end of verbs in the past tense. Goin, comin. talkin feelin, etc. The H sound is almost always omitted in words such as Wheat, where, when why, Etc. Many common phrases are put together as if it's one word, Wuddooya for what do you, wearduya for where do you, ar ya for are you. A very typical Canadian phrase would go like this, R ya goin ta teller wuts goin on? I doan think so, ittlebe better if I dint.
I agree with lucknow, good overservations. Some though I can't say I agree with (after 42+ years in Toronto and 4 more on Vancouver Island) but many are spot on.
When Americans notice us saying "eh" (and I don't deny that one ) I think they often fail to realize that they say "uh huh" a LOT. I've heard it said in so many intonations to to mean different things. It's like their replacement for our "eh"! That is something I have never heard in Canadians.
I agree with lucknow, good overservations. Some though I can't say I agree with (after 42+ years in Toronto and 4 more on Vancouver Island) but many are spot on.
When Americans notice us saying "eh" (and I don't deny that one ) I think they often fail to realize that they say "uh huh" a LOT. I've heard it said in so many intonations to to mean different things. It's like their replacement for our "eh"! That is something I have never heard in Canadians.
I agree with your last paragraph. I say huh a lot in place of eh, I've noticed. Brits also say aye? a lot in place of eh.
I've found alot of British Columbians say hey in place of eh. Like whereas I would say, "it sucks it got rained on, eh?", they might say "it sucks it got rained on, hey?" It's used exactly in the places others would use eh, but I always notice it because I'm expecting to hear eh but then I hear hey.
I also notice the Canadian accent is a bit less clear than the GA accent (Which I find very precise and aggressive). The Canadian accent is almost a bit slurred or immature sounding.
I think Canadian pronunciation of most words tends to be more precise.
I've noticed some words with the letter "t" in the middle are barely pronounced by americans,
like the word winter, the "t" is almost silent, the t is pronounced very lightly.
Canadians pronounce the "t" more prominently, even with a very slight hesitation, win ter
Also words like "doesn't" , with some americans it sounds like "dudn't (or something like that).
There is ZERO difference between the Canadian and general American accent, it's exactly the same. I am Canadian and no we do not have an accent or say words like house and about oddly like aboot and hoose - who would be stupid enough to believe that? It's About! rhymes with "shout". I can't believe people's ignorance sometimes.
There is ZERO difference between the Canadian and general American accent, it's exactly the same. I am Canadian and no we do not have an accent or say words like house and about oddly like aboot and hoose - who would be stupid enough to believe that? It's About! rhymes with "shout". I can't believe people's ignorance sometimes.
You can't hear it because you're Canadian. I've had foreigners point out every little difference like this to me in conversation, and you wouldn't believe how much you're not even realizingi t. It's just because the general sound in speech is similar, but there are for sure many little differences with dipthongs and especially making everything sound almost like a question.
There is ZERO difference between the Canadian and general American accent, it's exactly the same. I am Canadian and no we do not have an accent or say words like house and about oddly like aboot and hoose - who would be stupid enough to believe that? It's About! rhymes with "shout". I can't believe people's ignorance sometimes.
I agree with what Jesse44 said ^^^. Americans always ask if I'm Canadian after they hear me talk for a while because of the "out and abouts" even though I think I'm saying them like "shout"...I can't hear the difference in the way they say it and the way I say it but they can. We probably say shout in a way that sounds Canadian to them.
Alos is is NO such thing as a general American accent. If you've travelled across the US you'll know that for sure. Speech experts can determine the region someone is (or is not) from on someone who has amnesia by conducting a speech test. To be fair they use certain phrases and word meanings as well.
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) I think they often fail to realize that they say "uh huh" a LOT. I've heard it said in so many intonations to to mean different things. It's like their replacement for our "eh"! That is something I have never heard in Canadians.
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