Tag Archives: canadian raising

Yes, Canada has Regional Dialects

On a train to Canada several months back, I overheard a young man scolding his American companion with the following: ‘Listen. Canada has different accents. Alberta has an accent. Toronto has an accent. We don’t all talk alike.’ I’ve received … Continue reading

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Posted in American English | Tagged , , | 35 Comments

The Accent(s) of the Pacific Northwest

I’m moving to the Pacific Northwest in about six weeks.  I will soon be able to participate in a hotly debated topic: is there such a thing as a Pacific Northwest accent?  And if there is, what does it sound like? … Continue reading

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Posted in American English | Tagged , | 44 Comments

When ‘Price’ and ‘Prize’ Don’t Rhyme

In recent years, I’ve noticed a growing phenomenon among American English speakers. People with otherwise “standard” accents exhibit a “non-standard” pronunciation of words like price, right, and kite. To use right as an example, this results in pronunciations which sound … Continue reading

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Posted in English Phonetics | Tagged , , , | 20 Comments

Quebec English

Quebec English is a broad term used for the dialects (both foreign and native) spoken in North America’s great Francophone province. There is a cultural divide between Quebec and English-speaking Canada, making it tricky to suss out what marks a … Continue reading

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Posted in American English | Tagged , | 17 Comments

One of My Favorite Famous Accents

As per a recent post about non-rhotic American Southern English, I should mention one of my favorite accents of any politician.  That would be the former Senator from Charleston, South Carolina, Fritz Hollings. An excellent clip of his speech can … Continue reading

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Posted in American English | Tagged , | 37 Comments

Canadian Raising: Nobody says “Aboot”

A point of clarification: Canadians do not say aboot. Canadian English features something called Canadian Raising, which basically means that the diphthong in “now” is raised before t, s or other voiceless consonants (i.e. before words like about and house). What … Continue reading

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Posted in Miscellaneous Accents and Dialects | Tagged , , | 97 Comments