Modern English grammar

December 7TH, 2010

THE HISTORY

BEHIND CANADIAN

ENGLISH

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Settlement On Canadian Soil Spanned Across Two Centuries

Before widespread immigration took place, the

AboriginalPeoples of Canada influenced spoken French

Loyalists fleeing from the U.S. during the American Revolution

War of 1812 saw wave of immigrants from Britain & Ireland

Global immigration peaked during the 1910’s& the 1960’s

Lower Canadian French provided vocabularyfor Upper

Canadian English

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MORPHOLOGY

|môr f̍äləjē

| 4

Canadian English prefers the shortened past&past participial

forms

Traditionally observed that Canadiansuse theBritish past

participlegot & the American past tensedove

Canadians prefer the Americanraise than the British rise but

reportedly use lend more frequentlythan loan

The “nonstandard” past tense sunk &past participledrank are

common

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ENGLISH VARIATIONCANADIAN VARIATION

Spelled Spelt

Dreamed Dreamt

Leaned Leant

Kneeled Knelt

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SYNTAX

| s̍in t̍aks|

7

Canadian English word order construction is borrowed from

the French

The Noun + Attributive order is common in Canadian

English governmental written / spoken dialogue

The Prepositionafter + Present Participle is used to indicate

Present Perfect construction

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Air Canada

Revenue Canada

Parks Canada

Such an inversion is clearly a

calque on the French word

order, enabling these titles to

work in both French & English

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o He is aftertelling me about it.

o Pierre is afterlistening to the radio station for his prize.

o We are aftertraining before the Olympic meet.

o I never thought afterhiking I would spot a bear.

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Preposition: is attributed to Loyalist influence

Perfect Participle: is attributed to Celtic influence

Verb Tense: “He speak to me yesterday,” versus “He spoke to me

yesterday.”

Verbal Aspect: “At this moment, I wash the dishes,” versus “I am

washing the dishes right now.”

Overuse of the Definite Article: “I like the beef and the red wine.”

Modal Auxiliary Verb: “I don’t find my keys,” versus “I can’t find

my keys,” or “Do you want to wash the dishes,” versus “Will you

wash the dishes.”

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“Close the TV,” instead of: Turn off the TV

“Open the light,” instead of: Turn on the light

“Take a decision,” instead of: Make a decision

“Put your coat,” instead of: Put on your coat

“When after getting home, I have to make dinner. As well,

I have to do a load of laundry,” instead of: When I get home, I have to make dinner and do the laundry.

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PHONOLOGY

|fə n̍äləjē / fō-|13

The genesis of Canadian English is partially rooted in North

American English (NAE)

But the phonology is still slightly distinctwith Canadian English

Distinction resultedin homophonous pairs

So-called mergers evident since the mid nineteenth century

Canadian “mergers” are dispersing into NAE

Unclear whether the vowel stressed is roundedor unrounded14

Offal / Awful

Don / Dawn

Hock / Hawk

Tot / Taught

Otto / Auto

Lager / Logger

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The onsets of the [au]&[ai]diphthongs are raised to the

[AU]&[AI]before voiceless sound consonants

“Raising” results in contrastingvowel sounds

“Raisings” are attributed to early Scottish&British settlements

Are stereotypical / distinctive features of Canadians

“Raised” variants are found less commonamong women

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Lout / Loud

Bout / Bowed

Spouse / Espouse

Bite / Bide

Fife / Five

Site / Side

Tripe / Tribe17

DISTRIBUTION

| d̍istrə b̍yoōshən|18

Canadian English

prefer words that are

spelt in the British

dialect

Cheque/ Check

Neighbour/ Neighbor

Labour/ Labor

Equalled/ Equaled

Traveller/ Traveler

Centre / Center

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o However, they may also be inconsistent even within

the same “set,” for example, preferring colourat the

same time as favorite.

“eh?”

“The Dep” / A Corner Store “Jogger” / Sweatpants

“Balcony” / Gallery or Exhibit “Supply Teacher” / Substitute Teacher

“Primary” / Grade School “Lineup” / A line of People

“Resto” / Restaurant “Hydro” / Electricity

“Smog Dog” / Street Vendor Hot Dog “Militants” / Activists

“Canuck” / A Canadian “Mickey” / Bottle of Liquor

“Hoser” / A Naïve person “Townie” / Urban Dweller

“G-Spot” / Guelph, Ontario “Chesterfield” / A couch

“The Ballet” / Strip Club “Ghetto Blaster” / Portable Stereo

“Puck Bunny” / Hockey Groupies “Housecoat” / Bathrobe

“Grit” / Member of the Liberal Party “2 – 4” / Case of 24 Pack Beer

“Frosh” / First-year Students “Shreddies” / Cereal

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BILINGUALISM:

FRENCH

ENGLISH

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Federal government must conduct its business in both

English&French

Traffic Signs must be posted inboth languages

Service sectors must label “goods” in both languages

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EDUCATION

Core French

French Immersion

Extended French

With the exception of Quebec, Canadian English is

primarily spoken in the rest of Canada

Quebec is a French speaking state

Quebec recognizes its own nationalistic identity

Aligns itself more with the French language than the

English language

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| l̍anggwij|

| d̍emə g̍rafiks|24

Number of English + French / Other Speaking Quebecers (2001)

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CRITERIA QUEBEC MONTREAL

Official 591,379 (8.3%) 401,183 (10.5%)

English Only 557,040 379,570

MOTHER TONGUE English + French 50,060 N/A

English + Other 15,040 N/A

TOTAL 622,140 424,355

Official 746,895 (10.5%) 552,610 (19.7%)

English Only 480,400 376,720

HOME LANGUAGE Mostly 220,850 175,990

Equally 95,970 74,350

Regularly 393,575 202,465

TOTAL 1,190,435 886,050

Language Minority 918,955 (12.9%) 699,203 (25%)

FIRST LANGAUGE English Only 828,730 619,790

English + French 180,450 158,885

TOTAL 1,009,180 778,645

Knowledge of English 3,234,740 2,047,520

Total Population 7,125,580 2,796,390

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• “Canadian English.” Brinton, Laurel J., & Fee, Marjery, ed. (2005). Ch. 12. The Cambridge History Of The English Language. Volume VI: “English In North America., Algeo, John, ed., pp.

422–440. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Print.

• “Canadian English.” Wikipedia. Accessed 26th November, 2010. Online: <http://

en.wikipedia.org/wikiCanadian_English#cite_ref-Labov_2-0>.

• “Canadianisms.” CMU. Accessed 1st December, 2010. <http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~steffan/

canadianisms.html>.

• “New Dialect Formation In Canada.” (2008). Dollinger, Stefan. Amsterdam: Benjamin, Print. Pp.

279.

• “Quebec English.” Language Distribution. Accessed 3rd December, 2010 <http://

www.topeuros.com/quebecenglish/encyclopedia.html>.

• “The Dialogue of Canadian English.” McArthur, T., ed. (2005). Concise Oxford Companion ToThe English language, pp. 96–102. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Print.

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