Interesting. So most Americans pronounce “sorry” and “sari” the same? I seem to have/hear three different vowels in “sorry,” “sarcasm,” and “sore.” IPA: /ˈsɒri/, /ˈsɑrkæzəm/, /sɔr/.
Well, not necessarily exactly the same; a good enough approximation for the point Leaffan was making. I often use “a” to represent any generic open vowel, when I don’t feel like drawing any distinction between them.
The ONLY person I ever heard say “abooot” for the word I and everyone I’ve ever known pronounce as “a-bowt” was Betty Kennedy, on Front Page Challenge.
If I was to guess where it came from, I would have to trace it to Toronto WASPS, specifically those with some Scots ancestry.
When a Canadian says something like “This story is about a boot” do the two words really sound exactly the same to an American?
“This stor-ey is a-bowt a boot…”
You tell me.
I read an article about this and have mentioned it in a previous thread about the issue. Firstly, as noted above, there is a wide variety of regional accents. Generally however, American accents draw out vowels a bit longer than Canadians, so dipthongs end up sounding a bit diferent.
The example used in the article was the word “FLOUR”.
Generally, American accents will draw out the vowels for a heartbeat longer so it will sound more like the word “FLOWER”. Canadian accents will clip the vowel sounds ever so slightly and it will sound a bit more like “FLOOR”. Again, regional accents make a huge difference. My father’s family is from Michigan and “flour” sounds no different than how I hear it in Canada. My mothers family is from the southwest, their speech is, not slower but… longer somehow… and “flour” definitely sounds more like “flower”. From a regional point of view, I find the east coast accent to be much more “aboot” than the accent of my Albertan friends. My friends in Pennsylvania thought I had a very slight British accent but they thought my Edmonton friend had barely any accent at all.
Edit: When I was working in PR, whenever I called the U.S. west coast, I would make a conscious effort to speak slower. They usually didn’t think I had an accent when I did that.
Canadians keep swearing nobody or hardly anyone speaks this way and yet I pick up Canadian raising all over the place. When I listen to NPR, I hear it in CBC’s “Definitely Not the Opera.” I was listening to “The Story” with Dick Gordon and heard it in his pronunciation of certain words. Looked up his bio. Yep, sure enough, Canadian. Had no idea, but the “ow” pronunciation gave it away.
Here’s an example of his speech. To me, the pronunciation of “out” in that sentence is a dead Canadian giveaway. Do you hear it there, or not?
No. “About” doesn’t sound like “boot.” It’s a different vowel sound. I personally think “aboat” is a closer approximation, but, phoenetically without having to resort to IPA, I would suggest that is sounds more like “abehwt” ot “abuhwt.”
NM
Canadians swear no one speaks this way precisely because they have no idea what people are talking about when they say “aboot” (“Huh? I don’t pronounce ‘a boot’ and ‘about’ the same way!”). It’s really a terrible description, being as it is flatly inaccurate. But, a large number of my friends are from Toronto, and Canadian raising on /aU/ was definitely a very striking feature of their accents to my ear when I first met them. It’s just, as you know, not actually a feature that makes “about” merge with “a boot” (per descriptions above).
If it’s foreign to your accent, it can be very noticeable. If it’s common to your accent, it can be very unnoticeable. Funny how perception works that way.
The point being, for those with full Canadian raising, the vowel in out/about/mouse/couch/the made up word “jowp” is different from the vowel in cow/loud/rouse/gouge/the made up word “jowb”, in the same way that the vowel in right/knife/rice/pipe/bike/the made up word “flipe” is different from the vowel in hi/ride/knives/rise/the made up word “flibe”. Many Americans have the second feature (for “I” vowels), but very few have the first feature (for “ow” vowels).
ETA: Oh, you edited this post away for some reason (perhaps upon better realizing what pulykamell was pointing out). Well, I’m going to keep this reply up anyway.
Yes, I know. That’s why I linked to an example of the raising, and explained that the pronunciation “aboot” is not a fair approximation, and “aboat” is a bit closer, but still misses the, uh, boat.
I guess I was replying to a slightly different assertion, which In Winnipeg didn’t make, but I (perhaps incorrectly) assumed: That Canadians pronounce “about” the same way Americans do.
Since the last time this topic came up around here I’ve been spending more time listening for the Canadian accent and I hear it everywhere now. I heard someone in the elevator this morning say something - I don’t even remember the phrase he said- in such a stereotypical way that I almost laughed!
I definitely hear the “out” in the link you gave, though it took me some time to learn to hear it. Watching sports has helped; the Canadian sportscasters all seem to speak like this, and in the NHL and CFL there are enough Canadian players that you get a sense of how it varies. I associate it most with Albertans and Torontonians, and least with French Canadians speaking English.
Sa-ree. I didn’t mean to screw yooo abooot!
Damn you and your filthy Canadian pronunciation of the word “you”! 
Where is he from in Canada? He sounds like a Maritimer to me; definitely not from western Canada (if he is, I will be very surprised). His “car” sounds very east coast. His “out” does not sound like “oot” to me.
It doesn’t sound like “oot” to me, either. As I explained above, it’s a sound distinct from the way Americans pronounce the ou/ow sound. The best I could phonetically transcribe it is something like “uhwt” or “ehwt.”
I can’t find where he’s from, but he went to Queen’s University in Toronto.
And also, let’s not forget, distinct from how Canadians pronounce the ou/ow sound in contexts which do not precede voiceless consonants.
Anyhow, here’s another article in Wikipedia that discusses the issue, and seems to agree with my “ehwt” and “uhwt” transcription:
So, Ontario tends to go towards the “ehwt” pronunciation, while the West and Maritimes tends to go to the “uhwt” pronunciation. The standard American pronunciation would be rendered as “ahwt” using my transcription, which I hope some people can follow if they don’t know the IPA.
Yes, sorry, should have clarified. “Loud” vs “lout.” The former will have the standard American pronunciation of “ou.” The latter will have the raised pronunciation for those speakers who do have Canadian raising in their accent. (Not all Canadians raise this diphthong.)