An important existential and political question, to be sure, but my interest is in the linguistic aspect.
Why am I Canadian rather than Canadan? Other countries in the area merely tack an “n” on the end or change the last vowel to make a nationality.
For example, America->American; Mexico->Mexican; Cuba->Cuban; Venezuela->Venezualan
It changes, of course, when the country ends in a consonant: Brazil->Brazilian. However, Canada ends in an “a” just like America and Cuba.
Why do we add an “i,” and more importantly, shift the stress to the second syllable?
I first thought it might have something to do with the French canadien, but it’s actually the same question in French: américain, mexicain. They merely add “in” instead of just “n.”
So my theory is that it has something to do with Acadians, those onetime residents of eastern Canada who migrated to Louisiana way back when. Canadian sounds a lot like Acadian. Does anyone know if this is true, or what the real reason is for the odd spelling and pronunciation?
I didn’t find anything in several dictionaries and etymology websites, but my first thought was the same as yours (re: Acadians). How is it spelt in French?
I’m not sure I could find out why I’m a Houstonian rather than a Houstonite - I’d guess it mainly a matter of which usage becomes popular early on. Denizens of my state are commonly called Texans, but back in the days of our war for independence they were Texians. And the Acadians who came down here (well, next door) are more commonly called Cajuns now.
As I thought about this more, I think “Canadian” came about as an English equivalent to “Canadien”. And since there were more French speakers in Canada at first, that name stuck.
However, “American” didn’t have to compete with another language as much. So the English speakers just made up their only word.
It’s “Canadian” because it was “Canadien” before that. Canada was Indian first, French second, and English third, even if it’s mostly English now.
Besides, “Canadian” sounds better. Four syllables with a vowel sound third (like “American”) just seem to flow better, so the French word Canadien stuck in English without having to be changed.
As a follow up and a slight highjack, Manchester: Mancunian, Liverpool: Liverpudlian, Glasgow: Glaswegian??? There must be a connection. What is the etymological justification for changing the root of the word and adding ‘-ian’ when referring to an inhabitant of that region. The French reason seems to make sense but I can’t believe that this holds true for the English and Scottish cities to which I have just referred.
But in the 1600s, I would think that the pronunciation would be more similar.
But I’m not an authority on the great vowel shift of the English language.
Do you call people from Germany Germanans? From France Francans? Japanans? Scotlandans? Swedenans? There’s no particular rule connecting the name of the country and the name of the nationality. As quicken points out, it gets even weirder when you get to the level of cities or provinces or states; whaddya call someone from Quebec? “Quebecan” isn’t the right answer.
As with many other nationality names, “Canadian” is borrowed from another language, in this case French. The English word “Canadian” is NOT simply a derivation of “Canada.” It’s a derviation of “Canadien,” a French word; the words Canada and Canadian came to us seperately, describing a country and a specific group of people (the settlers of New France.)
I’ve a slight nit-pick with the examples. Other countries in the area don’t really just tack on a /n/. As far as I know people in Mexico call themselves “mexicano.” Likewise, folks from Cuba are “Cubanos.”
Having said that, the nit-pick doesn’t change the content of the question. My hair-brained stab at an the answer would be that there is some sort of phonological rule that accounts for your question. For example if you were to refer to yourself as “Canadan” you’d have three syllables with three identical vowels in a row (depending on how you make your vowels). It seems somewhat strange to change the second syllable from “uh” to “an” in that manner and even stranger to leave it as it is. Perhaps you need the fourth syllable (ca-na-di-an) to account for this?
Again, that’s a hair-brained thought formed with less than enough caffine in my system, no knowledge of your dialect, and dodgy phonology.
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Anyone know how to use IPA fonts on the board?
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