I’m going to have to steal some of these for my next Canada Council application. I might as well have some fun while I’m getting rejected…
in which she pulls the wool over our eyes as she pulls the shirt over her head… pur laine indeed!
Maybe we’ll have to rename all Canadian porn “The Coital Fury”.
United Statestian here (but with Canadaphilic tendencies). I just wanted to say that my wife and I just saw Sarah Polley’s film Take This Waltz, and we were impressed that some of the American actors at least tried to fake a Canadian accent, at least some of the time. Sarah Silverman, especially, went beyond the obvious “out/about” thing, and attempted a few "not/got"s, and even a “sorry.” At least that’s what I perceived.
I found this interesting, because I think it’s MORE challenging to fake an accent so similar to one’s own, rather than, say, a British accent by an American actor (or vice-versa).
Except we’re not the ones who speak with an accent… 
Except for the Newfies and Cape Bretoners that is.
Guess what! Of the three actors I had in mind, turns out one of them IS Canadian (Seth Rogen, from BC), while the other two grew up in US states which border Canada (Michelle Williams in Montana, and Sarah Silverman in New Hampshire.) So, not so surprising the latter two would be aware enough to make the attempt, and to actually partly succeed. (Maybe director Polley had this in mind during casting.)
I think this entire “Canadian accent” thing is far overblown.
The Maritimes definitely have varying degrees of Irish- and Scottish-influenced accents, and of course Quebec is French. I’ve met some people from BC who have a tinge of “surfer dude” to their speech, but that’s it.
It would be like identifying the classic Southern drawl simply as “an American accent.”
These things are largely regional.
I suppose, but my three-year-old son watches three different Canadian-produced animated television programs: “Caillou” (most of the voice actors are Quebecois), “Super Why” (most of the voice actors are Ontarians), and “Paw Patrol” (most of the voice actors are BC’ers). There are differences, but there are also commonalities which show a mutual difference from most American speakers (excepting perhaps some Minnesotans and the like)
Most noticeable, to me, is the “got/not” thing. The vowel in these words is spoken by most Americans with a broad kind of smile – almost a “gaht” – most obviously by Californian surfer dudes, but really by everyone. Meanwhile, just about every Canadian I’ve met pronounces this vowel with a tenser, rounder, smaller mouth shape.
I will take your word for it JKellyMap. It is hard to be objective about these kinds of things, especially since I’m basing pretty much all of my USA-accent familiarity on media, and not real-life.
And we don’t say ‘aboot’! I have never understood how people manange to get ‘aboot’ from our ‘about’.
No worries! I never noticed the “got/not” thing until recently, and I’ve spent months of my life in Canada, starting in childhood.
Your overall point is well taken – regional accents rarely align perfectly with international boundaries.
(However, I have read that some linguists posit that some Canadian citizens might actively incorporate the “out/about” thing into their speech patterns, either consciously or unconsciously, precisely as a “group identifier” marker. To the extent this is true, that would be a case where international boundaries do match a linguistic feature.)
You’re right, to say the Canadian thing is “aboot” is an exaggeration. Like with “got/not,” it’s just that most Americans tend to pronounce the vowel (diphthong, in this case) with a broader, smiley, looser mouth, while for most Canadians it’s narrower, rounder, and tighter. *In the direction *of “oo,” but not “oo,” that’s true.
Then there are a few words which are straight up pronounced *differently *by most Canadians – nothing to do with accent. The most common one in my experience is “process.”
Torontonians have a particular accent, too - you can hear it on most of the on-air talent on the Weather Network. We call it “The Toronto Valley Girl” accent.
I’ve been learning how to use the video function on my camera lately, and I’ve heard myself talking on some of the videos - frig, I have the worst Western Canadian accent IN THE WORLD!
Isn’t the about/aboot fallacy exposed already? No one I know does this. I live in Winnipeg, and have lived in Edmonton, Vancouver, and visited extensively in the east. No…one…says…aboot.
See post #614.
What’s the “got/not” thing?
Post #610. I’m pretty sure that, linguistically, it’s part of the same package, so to speak.