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I'm not sure what Nat and Acajack's positions are.
Nat is saying there ARE distinctive Canadian and American accents, but Acajack is countering that, apart from small differences in vocabulary, there is little difference between the accents of the two countries and that someone from Toronto sounds more like someone from Seattle than someone from Alabama does -- is that right?
I'm not sure what I think anymore
I will agree that people from Toronto sound more like people from Seattle than from Alabama, but I counter that with people from Toronto sound more like people in Vancouver than they do Seattle.
I think we've all heard of Canadians who lived for years next door to Americans, and the latter always assumed they were American and only found out when something came up that was related to citizenship, i.e. voting in upcoming elections. And then their Canadian neighbour tells them they can't vote because they're not American.
I have also known people in my life for quite some time before finding out that they were American, and always assumed they were (Anglo-)Canadians.
I realize that after a while living in a place, people's accent differences tend to get dulled. But with a lot of people there isn't much of a difference to be dulled to begin with.
Honestly I've never heard that and that. In fact one of the very first questions I find Americans ask someone is
" where y'all ( in some cases LOL ) from? "
As for knowing people for some time and not knowing they are Americans, to me it's either two things. They have been here long enough and start to blend in, or you just aren't really good at detecting American accents vs some Anglo Canadian ones.
As for not of a difference to be dulled, again I go back to actors. You sometimes don't even KNOW how much of an accent you have, or words that you use that make you stick out as a Canadian, until someone is sitting there " correcting " you on improving your American accent.
Say an alien from space were dropped into a North America without borders. The alien would begin learning about human language (starting with English), and also about the concept of countries.
After having spoken with someone from Toronto and someone from Portland and someone from Tuscaloosa, which two would the space alien pick as being from the same country?
I can almost always pick up a Canadian accent in under a minute -- seriously. A few weeks ago, I'm talking on the phone to someone from a local AAA office, and I soon detect a Canadian accent. I ask her and, sure enough, she's from New Brunswick.
Just yesterday, a video series of some guy I've never heard of comes up in my YouTube feed. I start watching one of the videos, and again, I quickly think he sounds Canadian (even though he's taken on the persona of a right-wing Republican/libertarian and he has a US flag print hanging on his wall behind him). I Google his name, and, yep, he's from Toronto.
Yes, that I'm Canadian is probably one reason why I can pick up on a Canadian accent. But, like anywhere else, some Canadian accents are stronger than others, and like other places, the difference seems to lie between larger urban centers and small towns/rural areas. My former in-laws who live in the middle of nowhere in Manitoba have thick accents, which I bet most Canadians would detect, let alone most Americans.
But you live in Tennessee, where people have that Southern drawl. So the American accent you're most familiar with is the Southern accent. If we're talking about native English speakers from the US West Coast, their accents are much closer to Canadians. You could probably still tell the difference in certain words being pronounced differently like in drama and sorry. But then again, I was born and raised in California, and I generally have an American accent but I pronounce quite a few words differently from other Americans.
I say "narrator" as nuh RAY ter, not NAIR ray ter.
I pronounce "leisure" with a short e, so that leisure rhymes with pleasure.
I say missile, mobile, etc as rhyming with "aisle" instead of rhyming with "bull."
I say judiciary as ju dish ur ry, not ju dish ee air ry. Four syllables instead of five.
When I say inventory, it sounds like infantry, but with a v instead of an f. No sound for the o.
Does me saying above words like that count as an accent? Maybe, but it's very subtle, kind of like the difference between a guy from Anglo Canada vs. the US West Coast.
The vowel sound differences are much smaller between Anglo Canadians and Anglo Californians, as the above article shows.
Some Anglo Canadians. Some will say there are three " English Canada's ", but yes. That is what has been said here, that some California accents sound similar, to some west coast Canadian ones, but again, it is not just vowels, but cadence as well, which can be different.
But you live in Tennessee, where people have that Southern drawl. So the American accent you're most familiar with is the Southern accent. If we're talking about native English speakers from the US West Coast, their accents are much closer to Canadians. You could probably still tell the difference in certain words being pronounced differently like in drama and sorry. But then again, I was born and raised in California, and I generally have an American accent but I pronounce quite a few words differently from other Americans.
I say "narrator" as nuh RAY ter, not NAIR ray ter.
I pronounce "leisure" with a short e, so that leisure rhymes with pleasure.
I say missile, mobile, etc as rhyming with "aisle" instead of rhyming with "bull."
I say judiciary as ju dish ur ry, not ju dish ee air ry. Four syllables instead of five.
When I say inventory, it sounds like infantry, but with a v instead of an f. No sound for the o.
Does me saying above words like that count as an accent? Maybe, but it's very subtle, kind of like the difference between a guy from Anglo Canada vs. the US West Coast.
How do you say " fragile "?
Or " orientated " ?
There are a slew of words that are pronounced differently, in both countries. Then there are words like " foyer" .
In Canada I have only heard it pronounced one way, in the US two ways, with one being more common. However, it is still a word that gives away more often than not, where the person is from.
I will agree that people from Toronto sound more like people from Seattle than from Alabama, but I counter that with people from Toronto sound more like people in Vancouver than they do Seattle.
Yes, I agree. I think.
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