2.3 Canadian English

Canadians insist that their version of the English language is very clear differences from the American and British versions of English , and indeed it is .

Canadians use in speech some British expressions and words that Americans do not consume . They called gum a rubber band (AmE - elastic); sofa a chesterfield (AmE - sofa, couch); sneakers runners (AmE - sneakers, tennis shoes); cash a cash register (AmE - a till).

In the U.S. treatment " Madame " (ma'am) and " Sir " (sir) - is the usual polite form of address . In Canada , if they would go to the woman , " Madame ," she usually answer that is not old enough for such treatment.

The formation of the Canadian version of the English language at an early stage of its development was influenced by French, American Indian languages ​​. In this way, hit the Canadian English words esquimaux, canoe, caribou. Many words entered the Canadian version of the lexicon of fur traders and pioneers of the country.

It is believed that the Canadian version of the English language is more similar to American English than to the version of English spoken in England and other parts of the United Kingdom.

Among the national varieties of English can distinguish certain North American linguistic unity , having a large common and not so much pronounced splits into American and Canadian versions of English, as collectively different from other options.

People living in other parts of the world , is often seen as an American Canadian English . Many Britons perceive as American Canadian accent . At the same time, the Americans usually distinguish speech Canadians accent reminiscent of the British . When, for example , the Canadian says "out and about" [aut und ubaut], it may sound like "oot and aboot" [u: t end ebu: t].

American readers of Canadian texts draw attention to the fact that in so many words , where in American English after the "o" is missing the letter "u" (color, flavor, humor, neighbor), Canadian English , it is written: solour , flavour, humour and neighbour ( as in British English) .

The standard Canadian English writing can detect the characteristic features of both British and American spelling. Most Canadian writes colour, not color, cheque, not check, and centre, instead center, but at the same time they are written specialize, instead specialise, draft, and not draught, and the tire, and not tyre.

It differs significantly from the Canadian speech on American accent in words and divide into syllables : so Canadians pronounced PRO-gress, and not prog-RESS, the word rhymes with route out, rather than root, etc. Canadians are famous for that often pronounced eh ( e ) . This eh they say at the end of statement or question , such as : Hot enough for you, eh?

Sometimes voiced assertion that the Canadian version of the English language is quite homogenous and within it there is no dialectal differences. In reality it is not. To indicate the dialect closest to the standard version of the English language, often used the name of the General Canadian ( Canadian version of the common English language) . Certainly dialects exist in Canada , much more uniform than, for example , in the UK. There is a Canadian version , which is spoken by educated people of the country and which can be heard on radio and television in all parts of Canada . At the same time , there are several dialects , slightly different from each other grammatical features, but differ markedly in word usage .

So , Canadian English dialect in the Atlantic provinces is very similar dialects fishermen in Scotland and Ireland . Dialect spoken in Newfoundland , or " Island " (Island), as it is sometimes called , is difficult to understand, even for themselves Canadians from other provinces . This dialect is sometimes called the " nasal dialect Newfies " (Newfy twang) ( Ilish , 1971:153 ) , its characteristics and traits of people living in these places , Canadians ridiculed in jokes and anecdotes . It has a lot of localism , is used to describe the weather and related fishing : so they called an ordinary storm tempest ( storm ), as a powerful storm called trap smasher ( literally " Destroyer snares " ) . In these places, there are local products and dishes with corresponding names : grunt ( pudding , steamed ); snits ( dried apple slices ); larrigan ( type of shoe ); water horse ( salted cod ) .

Dialect of English spoken in the province of Quebec , especially the influence of the French language is different , for example , caleche ( the name of one of the types of carts pulled by horses ), double window or storm window ( frame with double glazing, usually take out ), whisky blanc ( alcoholic beverage ), professor ( in the sense of " school teacher " ) . Number of words of French origin in English Quebec differs from area to area .

Ottawa River Valley - the area west of Ottawa along the Ottawa River in Ontario is known that historically here selilos many immigrants from Scotland and Ireland. Some features of the dialect spoken here , explains this circumstance. This dialect is perceived by residents of other regions of Canada as a country . Mind the word used to mean " remember ", house ( the verb " to place , to lodge " and the noun " house" ) sounds like [heis], in other parts of Canada so only pronounce the noun .

Southern Ontario region of the country , formerly known as Upper Canada , located along the northern shore of the Great Lakes - is currently the most densely populated part of the country. The significant role of this area in the early development of Canada led to the emergence of a kind of political and cultural terms , and later became more widespread in other parts of the country , among them : reeve, riding, continuation school ("secondary school") and concession (an area of surveyed land). The area developed a fairly pronounced urban dialect. Local words eaves trough (roof gutter - roof gutter ) and dew worn (earthworn - earthworm ) .

In prairie areas in the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba due to good communication , especially rail, developed fairly homogeneous dialect. Such branches of the economy as growing and processing grain , livestock , oil industry , have their own vocabulary , lexical units comprising such as Dry Belt ( arid southern region ), stampede ( rodeo ) and oil borer (oil driller - oil driller ) . Include generic word such as nuisance grounds (rubbish dump - dump garbage ), bluff (a clump of trees - grove of trees) and chuck ( food). Borrowing from local languages ​​include words such as kinnikinik ( mixture of smoking ) and Saskatoon ( kind of shrub ) .

On the Arctic north, covering the territory Yukon, eastern territories , northern Quebec , Labrador , common borrowing from the language of the Inuit , such as kabloona ( white man ), basket sled ( sledge view , slides ), fan hitch ( dog sleds ), angakok ( shaman ), tupik ( a form of tent ) and chimo ( toast) . Many of these loans went into standard English , for example , igloo ( igloo dwelling Inuit ) . The fur trade , one of the most important sectors of the economy , also brought their words and expressions, such as , factory ( factory , post fur trade ), a factor ( the senior officer of the post - a senior officer).

West Country - British Columbia in Vancouver, the center - is separated from the rest of the Canadian Rocky Mountains , which contributed to a relatively high migration along the Pacific coast . As a result, part of the territory , and in particular Vancouver, experiencing a significant American influence . Feels and influence of indigenous languages ​​, for example , keekwillee-house ( type dugout ), salt chuck ( ocean ), kokane (land-locked salmon). Developed the terminology associated with the local branches of the economy , namely extractive industries, forestry (logging, rigging, yarding, caulk, boom chains, jackladder). Many of these words are included in the standard English.

So the Canadian version of the English language evolved under the influence of American English - on the one hand , and the British version - on the other. Therefore, Canadian English bears the fingerprints of both languages ​​, in some cases - the British , in some - American .