msb@lsuc.UUCP (Mark Brader) (01/15/86)
Since I was somewhat responsible for starting this topic, I think
I'll say a bit more about English as used here in Canada. First of all,
it seems to me that our language is more like American English than it
is like British English, but has notable resemblances to British as well.
The resemblance to American is perhaps strongest in pronunciation.
I can't think of a place in Canada where a British person would not
be recognized as a foreigner by accent alone; but to many of us,
Australians also sound British, whereas British and Australian people
have no trouble telling each other apart. On the other hand, Americans
from the northeast and Canadians from Ontario sound a great deal alike;
while I can identify some Americans by accent, there are many whom I
can't. And British people certainly have trouble telling Americans
from Canadians.
There isn't really a distinctive Canadian or American pronunciation,
there are just regional dialects, some of which are only in one country.
The "Canadian ou" in "about" is an example of a regional pronunciation
that happens to be confined to parts of Canada, just as "route" pronounced
like "rout" (instead of like "root" as here) is a regional pronunciation
confined to parts of the US. I'm not sure about "lever" ("leever" to me,
"levver" to many Americans). It's true that "Z" is just about always
"zee" (by analogy with "bee", "cee", etc.) in the US and "zed" (from Greek
"zeta") everywhere else, but this is more a matter of vocabulary than
pronunciation -- it's the NAME of the letter that changes.
In the matter of spelling, most Canadians would say that they use
British spelling, and they would be wrong. In fact the situation is
that British spelling is used for certain of the highly noticeable
points of variation, and American spelling for almost everything else.
Some words are commonly seen both ways. For instance, the sentence
that might be rendered in Britain as:
The travelling speciality cheque centre draughtsman manoeuvred the
coloured aluminium phial onto the anaemic gaoler's jewellery disc,
hiccoughing at his baulking dependant's sulphurous programme of tyre
byelaw offences shewn in connexion with ploughing modernised kerbs.
...and in the US as:
The traveling specialty check center draftsman maneuvered the
colored aluminum vial onto the anemic jailer's jewelry disk,
hiccupping at his balking dependent's sulfurous program of tire
bylaw offenses shown in connection with plowing modernized curbs.
...in Canada might show up this way:
The traveling specialty cheque centre draftsman manoeuvred the
coloured aluminum vial onto the anemic jailer's jewelry disk,
hiccupping at his balking dependent's sulfurous program of tire
bylaw offences shown in connection with plowing modernized curbs.
though it might also have "colored", "anaemic", "disc", and "programme",
depending on who is writing it.
(I had fun composing that! Notice that each point of variation is
different! In one or two places it could be argued that there are
really two different words rather than two different spellings.)
Now, as for vocabulary, we have a very few words that are unknown in
other countries; besides geographical references, which are trivial,
and political ones, which I wouldn't know about uniqueness of, about
all I can think of offhand is "pogey", slang for unemployment insurance,
which I wouldn't even use myself. Maybe somebody else will list some more.
Is "toque"/"tuque" one? I'd think it would have penetrated parts of the US.
(Both spellings are seen, and it can rhyme with "poke" or "duke".)
Most of the time, again, we use a mix of American and British. Our
legal/political system being British-based, for instance, it tends
to use a mostly British vocabulary; in transportation, on the
other hand, we have followed American styles and accordingly the
American vocabulary is used pretty well completely. And so it goes.
Mark Brader
Toronto, Canadagh@utai.UUCP (Graeme Hirst) (01/17/86)
> ...in Canada might show up this way: > > The traveling specialty cheque centre draftsman manoeuvred the > coloured aluminum vial onto the anemic jailer's jewelry disk, > hiccupping at his balking dependent's sulfurous program of tire > bylaw offences shown in connection with plowing modernized curbs. > > though it might also have "colored", "anaemic", "disc", and "programme", > depending on who is writing it. Mark is correct that "cheque", "centre", and "colour" are the main common words that are almost always spelled the British way in Canada. "Jewellery" is another one for which both variants are common; signs in the Consumers Distributing store near my home have it one way at one end of the store, the other way at the other. "Harbour" is generally so spelled. However, _The_Globe_and_Mail_ ("Canada's National Newspaper") insists on U.S. spellings to the extent that it always gives "Harbourfront" (a lakeshore development in Toronto) as "Harborfront", even though it is a proper name. -- \\\\ Graeme Hirst University of Toronto Computer Science Department //// utcsri!utai!gh / gh.toronto@csnet-relay / 416-978-8747
msb@lsuc.UUCP (Mark Brader) (01/18/86)
> "Harbour" is generally so spelled. However, _The_Globe_and_Mail_ ("Canada's > National Newspaper") insists on U.S. spellings to the extent that it always > gives "Harbourfront" (a lakeshore development in Toronto) as "Harborfront", > even though it is a proper name. The Toronto Star (the leading-circulation paper in the city) does this too, and I know why. The reason it, it's Canadian Press style. The Canadian Press is, nowadays, essentially the only wire service in Canada. (By the way, it's owned as a cooperative by the 100+ newspapers that use its services.) Like all papers, the Star uses lots of wire service copy, and they don't want to have to go through it changing all the spellings. I think we can assume that the G&M feels the same way. And why does The Canadian Press use American spellings for some words? For the same reason. About 70% of their copy originates with the American Press wire service, and is only lightly edited. They do spell "cheque" thus [if I remember rightly -- I have read their stylebook, but that was some months ago]; but, I would think they reason, "colo(u)r" is a rather commoner word and both spellings are already seen in Canada to some extent, so they go with the American spelling. And then, of course, they have to be consistent and spell "harbor". How the G&M and the Star justify using the spelling of "harbor" to misspell the proper name "Harbourfront" mystifies me too. I think if I worked for Harbourfront I'd write a letter to the Starr and complain. Mark Brader