#canadian english

[acrowseye]

i'm conducting an experiment. everyone who's from an english speaking country state your country, regional area and what you call the following images. i need to see something

#ex: united states > south > sodapop #please rb so more people see #american english #australian english #british english #canadian english #english #english language #dialects #accents #american accent #australian accent #british accent #canadian accent #english accent #america #australia #england #canada #those four are my target audience but all answers from around the world are welcome!! #tumblr #discourse #experiment

[kiragecko]

Trying to learn phonology as a Canadian is HARD.

Phonology is the study of how languages organize sounds. And most of it involves matching the sounds of whatever you're studying to this mental framework of possible sounds that you learn. But since most western teaching methods involve written texts, you have to be able to map those texts to your own dialect, so that the symbols used actually have MEANING.

There isn't a lot of guidelines for mapping things to Canadian English. Most sources tell you it's similar to American English. Sometimes, one or two exceptions will be highlighted.

But, in 15 years, NOBODY HAS EXPLAINED CANADIAN 'A' TO ME.

You see, Canadian English doesn't really HAVE an 'a' sound. We have a spectrum.

'a' before an 'n, m, ng' is pronounced almost the same as the 'e' in 'beg'. [ɛː]

'a' before 'g' is pronounced SLIGHTLY lower [æ̞ə]

'a' in words like 'bat' or 'rack' are even lower, and also farther back. But they can vary wildly between speakers and individual words. [æ~ä¹]

'a' in words like 'palm, father' are pronounced near the back of the mouth, in many speakers identically to the 'o' in 'rock, bot.' (I pronounce them SLIGHTLY differently) [ɑ~ɒ]

and up to 50% of loanword 'a's (like 'façade, lasagna, lava, plaza') are pronounced IN BETWEEN 'bat' and 'palm' (and 'bun') [ä~ɑ~ʌ]

General American has three sounds here, nicely grouped. Charts of English dialects split up 'ham', 'bad', 'lad', 'pass', and 'father'. (Most dialects group these into either 2 or 3 distinct phonemes.)

But in central Canada,where I live, (and which is most likely to use weird in-between sounds), there's no real GROUPS. Everything blends into everything else. Trying to figure out the difference between /ɛ, æ, a, ä, ɐ, ɑ/ was SO HARD.

Anyways, I am very grateful to Charles Boberg for ACTUALLY RESEARCHING CANADIAN ENGLISH. Things make a lot more sense now.

¹ 'ä' is the greyed out 'a' in the picture.

#linguistics #phonology #canadian english

[pacificnorthwesterngothic]

Madrone, Madrona, or Arbutus?

The common name of the tree Arbutus menziesii depends on where you are or where you are from.

North American members of the genus are called Madrones, from the Spanish name madroño (strawberry tree) although this terminology is not used in Canada. The European species are also called Strawberry Trees from the superficial resemblance of the fruit to a strawbrry; some species are sometimes referred to simply as the “Arbutus”.

In the United States, the name “Madrone” is used south of the Siskiyou Mountains of southern Oregon/northern California and the name “Madrona” is used north of the Siskiyou Mountains according to the “Sunset Western Garden Book”. In British Columbia, the trees are simply known by the name “Arbutus.”

All refer to the same tree, Arbutus menziesii, native to the Pacific Northwest and Northern California regions. It is Canada’s only native broadleaved evergreen tree. Some species in the genera Epigaea, Arctostaphylos and Gaultheria were formerly classified in Arbutus. As a result of its past classification, Epigaea repens (Mayflower) has an alternative common name of “trailing arbutus”.”

(The original source of this on Wikipedia seems to have vanished so I’m cross-posting from an article from Washington State University.)

#british columbia #bc #washington #oregon #arbutus #madrone #madrona #trees #english #pacific northwest #pnw #canadian english #american english #dialectology #language #linguistics

[ub-sessed]

I have just started learning Portuguese, and I am fascinated by the pronunciation of European Portuguese compared to Quebecois French: we both completely omit a significant proportion of the vowels in our words in basically the same way. But whereas the attitude in Quebec seems to be that this is wrong or bad somehow, when learning European Portuguese it is considered the correct pronunciation. So the immediate conclusion I would draw is that there is still a strong "metropole = correct" bias.

But: Nobody ever seems to imply that the Brazilian pronunciation, where all the vowels are actually pronounced, is inferior. In fact, when trying to learn Portuguese as a second language, Brazilian Portuguese seems to be the standard.

To me, arguing that Quebec French is somehow inferior or less correct than France French has always seemed absurd, like arguing that Canadian or American English are somehow less correct than British English.*

And yet I know that a lot of people think that any English that isn't RP is inferior or incorrect, and that speaking RP means that you "don't have an accent". 🙄

I haven't studied Spanish, so I don't know what the attitudes are towards the respective dialects there.

I imagine this has all been researched and I am curious to learn more. I feel like in my limited experience, on a scale of how much the metropolitan dialect is valued over the colonial dialect, French is the highest and Portuguese is the lowest, with English somewhere in between, but I could be completely off base. I wonder what the factors are that affect these attitudes.

*I should disclose my personal bias that I vastly prefer Quebecois French: It's pithy! It's evocative! It goes straight for the gut.

#lingblr #dialects #linguistics #metropolitan dialect #colonial dialect #language #European Portuguese #Brazilian Portuguese #Quebecois French #France French #British English #American English #Canadian English

[factoidfactory]

Random Fact #6,546

In Canada, "lineup" is typically another word for line (as in, one person standing behind another while waiting their turn).

In the US, "lineup" specifically refers to the horizontal line suspects are put in when someone is a witness.

#little known fact #random fact #random facts #did you know #random factoid #random factoids #yes really #language facs #english language #language dialects #dialects #langblr #language learning #country facts #canada #the us #the united states #united states of america #american english #canadian english

[isnt-it-pretty]

I hate word processors that don't let me write in Canadian English. Yes, I know my spelling is the bastardized love child of British and US English but it's mine

#spelling #canadian english

[theforesteldritch]

Dialects are so cool, and also regional terms. Like I would never have know that in English in places other than Canada, for example, freezies aren’t called freezies! Or like toques! Or parkades! Also runners, or pencil crayons. 

Linguistics is so cool-

#linguistics #dialects #English dialects #regional slang #canada #canadian english

[powerkanjifit]

("Canada Quotes Design - Hockey Design - Canadian Pride Design - Canada T Shirt" Fitted Scoop T-Shirt for Sale by PowerKanjiFitから)

#findyourthing #redbubble #canada #hockey #nhl #quotes #canadian #flunent #canadian english #tshirs #stickers

[daily-deliciousness]

Eggs benedict

#eggs benedict #eggs #poached egg #breakfast #food #bacon #hollandaise sauce #runny egg #egg #brunch #english muffin #canadian bacon #breakfast food #tasty #foodporn #delicious #cooking #food photography #foodgasm #recipe

[acrowseye]

part 2 of my experiment: what english-speaking country are you from, what region and what do you call the following images? if you don't know what the first image is please try to guess i'd love to see it

#ex: australia > victoria > bread #please rb so more people can see #american english #australian english #british english #canadian english #english #english language #dialects #accents #american accent #australian accent #british accent #canadian accent #english accent #america #australia #england #canada #those four are my target audience but all answers from around the world are welcome!! #tumblr #discourse #experiment #click the link for part one

[kiragecko]

Hey Lingblr/linguists of Tumblr, does anyone have recommendations of Youtubers/otherwise auditory media that discuss Canadian linguistics? (Especially in contrast to other dialects?)

I really enjoy Tom Scott and Dr. Geoff Lindsey, but Canada, with its relatively few people and weird in-between state (between British and American pronunciations) gets very little direct mention by either. Which makes sense, when doing broad overviews of the world's Englishes, or focusing on what the majority of people speak.

But I want to hear about me! (And also get some experience listening for the differences I've only seen in charts and text.)

I know about Lingthusiasm, but I think I need to listen to an episode that actually focuses on Canadian stuff to get hooked. (Any recs for that would also be appreciated!)

#linguistics #lingblr #canadian linguistics #canadian dialects #canadian english

[internationalemeteorologie]

J.E.H. MacDonald 

Le jardin sauvage (The tangled garden). 1916

#j.e.h. macdonald #color landscape #garden art #floral art #group of seven #english-canadian artist #national gallery of canada #flowers are pretty

[cap-sweet-and-salty-sadness]

I didn't think I'd play a sapphic film noir investigation video game set in my city of Montreal, Canada, but here we are. The game is This Bed We Made, we play as Sophie and she's the cutest maid.

The game is part maid simulator part investigation, the puzzles are fairly easy and fun to do. We get to choose who helps us investigate, and I chose Beth, the receptionist, and you can romance her! (She insinuated Sophie has a beautiful soul in our conversation, I had to pause for a second at that)

The height difference is killing me. Beth is also gorgeous, I snooped in her locker and found a cheeky photo of her.

How beautifully done is this photo? Pure Femme Fatale Energy, or FFE.

#cap plays tbwm #this bed we made #i love that the bilinguality of montreal is acknowledged without a fuss #we find notes in french but everything is translated in english #but it's fun to read canadian french in a game #i really wasn't expecting it so it was a nice surprise #i kept wondering why the radio was playing french songs

[vulturevalentines]

F is for Fugol (Old English for bird)

While the Modern English word "fowl" refers to birds of the order Galliformes, the Old English "fugol" could refer to any bird. This is an example of semantic narrowing, where the meaning of a word becomes less general overtime.

#my art #artists on tumblr #illustration #medieval art #medievalism #illuminated manuscript #historical art #medieval artober #old english #eald englisc #canadian goose #etymology #linguistics

[philosophors]

“The only way you can write the truth is to assume that what you set down will never be read. Not by any other person, and not even by yourself at some later date. Otherwise you begin excusing yourself. You must see the writing as emerging like a long scroll of ink from the index finger of your right hand; you must see your left hand erasing it.”

— Margaret Atwood, “The Blind Assassin”

#margaret atwood #atwood #literature #lit #literature lover #literature quote #literature quotes #english literature #canadian literature #philosophy #philosophical #philosopher #philosophers #philosophy quotes #philosophy of life #quote #quotes #excerpts #excerpt #books #book #booklover #bookworm #book quotations #book quotes #truth

[fake-married-my-dead-fiance]

All this time I thought Kevin the Canadian was just an amusing joke/a way to make Dong-gyung's aunt both alive and inaccessible because she moved to a far away country, BUT NO, it's a metaphor for the relationship between Doom and Dong-gyung.

Kevin cannot communicate very well or understand Dong-gyung when she starts to describe her crazy situation, but he still offers love and support as best he can.

Which mirrors how Doom can't understand Dong-gyung because he can't read her mind and how Dong-gyung can't completely understand Doom because she isn't the living personification of destruction. And yet, they are still able to love and provide meaningful support to each other.

It's not just comic relief that Kevin can't speak Korean very well! It's deep!!!

#doom at your service #Kevin the Canadian #I was so excited because I'm Canadian too #The actor is also in King the Land for a second #It was actually so weird to hear English in a kdrama that didn't have an accent