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Canadian English is the product of four waves of immigration and settlement
over a period of almost two centuries. The first large
wave of permanent English-
speaking settlement in Canada, and linguistically the most important, was the influx
of British Loyalists fleeing from the American Revolution, chiefly from the Mid-
Atlantic States. The second wave of immigration from
Britain and Ireland was
encouraged by the governors of Canada after the War of 1812, since they were
worried about the anti-English sentiment rising among its citizens. Other waves of
immigration from all around the globe peaking in 1910 and 1960 made a less
significant impact, but they did make Canada a multicultural country, ready to accept
linguistic changes from around the world during the current period of globalization.
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2. Phonetics
Canadian pronunciation is a mixture of both British
and American distinctive
features. The pronunciation of certain words is influenced by the American speech,
the pronunciation of others is due to the British influence. Some pronunciations are
purely Canadian. However, despite all
this pronunciation diversity, Canadian
pronunciation in many cases is closer to the American one. Below are given some
peculiarities noticeable in Canadian English.
The name of the letter „
Z
‟ is normally the Anglo-European (and French)
zed
; the
American
zee
is not commonly used in Canada and, if used, is often stigmatized.
In the words
adult
and
composite
, the stress is usually on the first syllable, as in
Britain.
Canadians side with the British on the pronunciation of
lieutenant
[lɛf‟tɛnənt],
shone
[ʃɒn],
lever
[‟livər], and some others.
Schedule
can sometimes be [„ʃɛdʒul] as in American English, though the British
variant is also used rather often.
The most common pronunciation of
vase
is [veɪz], as it is typical for American.
Many words of the French origin, like
niche
, and
croissant
, have not been fully
assimilated and are pronounced more like they would be pronounced in French: [niʃ]
rather than [nɪtʃ], and [kɹə‟sɒn(t)] rather than [kɹə‟sænt].
Many Canadians pronounce
asphalt
as "ash-falt" [‟æʃfɒlt].This pronunciation is
also common in Australian English, but not in General American English or British
English.
Diphthongal vowels such as [oʊ] in the word
boat
and [eɪ] as in the word
bait
have qualities much closer to monophthongs.
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