Speech pattern and typographical variations across Canada

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by Capsicum

Does anyone in Canada say "on accident" instead of "by accident" in a sentence like "I bumped into the fence by accident".

Neither, really - they both sound kind of childish to my ears. I use "accidentally".

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Another interesting young/old variation is "WH" words.

I often hear older people pronounce them as though there is also an H is in front of the W, e.g. hwhere is the entrance? how's the hwheat crop coming in this year?

I think they're just really emphasizing the "WH", while with younger people it's like there is no H, it just sounds like ware (where), weet (wheat), etc.

Some of the accents here do that. There's a saying, "I left my H in Holyrood and picked it up in Avondale" (two towns just outside the St. John's CMA).

In the local accent, you'd pronounce the saying:

"I left me haitch in Oh-lee-rood han picked hennup'n Havondale."

Because people in the general area of Holyrood drop every H at the beginning of a word, and in Avondale they add an H to the beginning of any word with a vowel or soft consonant. They torment each other. "Ayy ya watching edder NOL game danite luh?" etc.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Acajack

inquiry or enquiry?

And do you say it "in-kweye-ree" or in-kwih-ree"?

The former, with emphasis on the second syllable.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by rousseau

That's a good question. I think the former is what I instinctively reach for too, both in spelling and pronunciation. "Inquiry" with the stress on the first syllable sounds more like it would be an investigation, I think.

One I stumble on again and again is "data." Is it "dayda" or "dada"? For some reason I tend to reach for the latter in the phrase "data plan," but when saying "data" on its own I pause, and invariably say the former.

Not sure what most people say.

I say "DAYta". I don't see how the "t" could morph into a "d" sound in that word.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Because people in the general area of Holyrood drop every H at the beginning of a word, and in Avondale they add an H to the beginning of any word with a vowel or soft consonant. They torment each other. "Ayy ya watching edder NOL game danite luh?" etc.

I think Newfoundland, Singapore and Hong Kong must be the only three places in the world where people normally end their sentences with "luh"

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Capsicum

Does anyone in Canada say "on accident" instead of "by accident" in a sentence like "I bumped into the fence by accident".

One thing I noticed as a Canadian living in the US was that young people use "on accident" instead of "by accident" whereas I had not heard that in Canada before.

Only if one were jokingly contrasting it with "on purpose".

[SignalHillHiker]

https://www.irishcentral.com/culture...out-of-ireland

[Architype]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

https://www.irishcentral.com/culture...out-of-ireland

Because of the intense isolation of small Nfld. settlement's for centuries, retention of the accent is not surprising at all (similar with the West Country accents). However, I've often run into Irish people here on the west coast, as well as Nflders., and I can always tell the difference. The old timers with the more authentic accents must be getting rare.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

I say "DAYta". I don't see how the "t" could morph into a "d" sound in that word.

Really? That's interesting. Pronouncing "data" with a D sound is conventional in North America. Were you born in the UK, or did you grow up in a house with British parents?

Do you say "letter" with a T sound and not a D sound? How about "matter"? "Otter"? "Scooter"? Most any T in a two-syllable word elides to a D sound on this side of the Atlantic. Not just in sentences, but even when singling out the word and saying it slowly.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by rousseau

Really? That's interesting. Pronouncing "data" with a D sound is conventional in North America. Were you born in the UK, or did you grow up in a house with British parents?

Do you say "letter" with a T sound and not a D sound? How about "matter"? "Otter"? "Scooter"? Most any T in a two-syllable word elides to a D sound on this side of the Atlantic. Not just in sentences, but even when singling out the word and saying it slowly.

No, I just try to enunciate. Saying the other words to myself, "matter" and "Scooter" are definitely "t's, "otter" might stray a bit toward "d". I also avoid the Ottawa thing of referring to the "Shadow Laurier".

[Sarah89]

The ''Toronto accent'' (okay more like Canadian accent) in 2003

https://youtu.be/kkzZVX6ALaA

IT was just a mere 14 years ago and I must be crazy, but do the news reporters and passers by interviewed sound a lot more, American? very Americanized intonations and Canadian raising is down the bare minimum.

People reporting the news today on Toronto stations sound A LOT more Canadian and so do the city folk (who were born or raised in Canada).

I just get the craziest feeling that we have been isolating our selves a lot more from the United States which is reducing the influence on Canadian English which I believe (the American influence) was a lot more prominent in Canadian speech in the early 2000's.

[lio45]

I think autocorrects set by default to US/international English are going to be the death of Canadian spelling. My gf, a pure Canadian Anglo, always texts me spelling words the US way (color, center, etc.) even though I'm sure it's not the spellings she learned in school.

[Acajack]

Anglo-Quebec was always kinda weird though.

In the absence of strong societal reinforcement for Canadian English people go the furthest away from French because it makes sense that English would be like that.

So center color dialog instead of the Canadian centre colour dialogue etc.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by Sarah89

The ''Toronto accent'' (okay more like Canadian accent) in 2003

https://youtu.be/kkzZVX6ALaA

IT was just a mere 14 years ago and I must be crazy, but do the news reporters and passers by interviewed sound a lot more, American? very Americanized intonations and Canadian raising is down the bare minimum.

People reporting the news today on Toronto stations sound A LOT more Canadian and so do the city folk (who were born or raised in Canada).

I just get the craziest feeling that we have been isolating our selves a lot more from the United States which is reducing the influence on Canadian English which I believe (the American influence) was a lot more prominent in Canadian speech in the early 2000's.

They don't sound at all American to me.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by lio45

I think autocorrects set by default to US/international English are going to be the death of Canadian spelling. My gf, a pure Canadian Anglo, always texts me spelling words the US way (color, center, etc.) even though I'm sure it's not the spellings she learned in school.

I disagree. There have been computer programs with American-English spellcheck in Canada since the early 1990s. I don't find the spelling has changed in English-speaking Canada. There have also been some who use pretty much only American spellings even since the early days of Canada. I work for the federal government and many of the programs I use have U.S. English spellcheck yet we don't care and use colour, flavour, centre, etc. (hey they are underlined in red on my screen right now but I could care less!!)

What surprises me most is that there are very few computer programs that have a Canadian-English spellcheck. It's not as though it's that big of a deal to have it and making it is not actually a complicated thing. I guess many of us just tolerate the fact it we don't have it available rather than demand it.

[ConundrumNL]

Originally Posted by rousseau

Really? That's interesting. Pronouncing "data" with a D sound is conventional in North America. Were you born in the UK, or did you grow up in a house with British parents?

Do you say "letter" with a T sound and not a D sound? How about "matter"? "Otter"? "Scooter"? Most any T in a two-syllable word elides to a D sound on this side of the Atlantic. Not just in sentences, but even when singling out the word and saying it slowly.

I work in IT, so I say data on fairly regular basis. I've always said "DAYta", and so do my colleagues. I know it's not, but "DATa" always sounds wrong to me.

I'm curious, is this is a difference between Newfoundland English, and standard North American English? Any other NLers that can comment?

[SignalHillHiker]

I say it like Rousseau. Dayda on its own, but "DATa" when it's attached to another word, as in "data plan". There could be a slight difference in how we pronounce it, but it's not a foundational one.

For example, a really strong difference are TH and ING words. If not fully enunciated, most North Americans would clip the G and say something close to "nuthin'." Newfoundlanders, 99.9% of the time, clip the "th" instead so it'd be "nudding", with a very strong D and ING. Clipping the g is actually uncomfortable for us in our throats, try it. It's like trying to talk with your teeth it's so far ahead from the normal place in the throat we speak from.

[Brizzy82]

Originally Posted by Sarah89

The ''Toronto accent'' (okay more like Canadian accent) in 2003

https://youtu.be/kkzZVX6ALaA

IT was just a mere 14 years ago and I must be crazy, but do the news reporters and passers by interviewed sound a lot more, American? very Americanized intonations and Canadian raising is down the bare minimum.

People reporting the news today on Toronto stations sound A LOT more Canadian and so do the city folk (who were born or raised in Canada).

I just get the craziest feeling that we have been isolating our selves a lot more from the United States which is reducing the influence on Canadian English which I believe (the American influence) was a lot more prominent in Canadian speech in the early 2000's.

They sound very Canadian to me. The O pronunciation always gives it away

[north 42]

Sounds Canadian to me too!

[kool maudit]

I was just in Toronto and I really noticed the Canadian accent. When you're used to it, it kind of fades away but after five years it was like "so is this guy Scottish?"