Editing Canadian English (section)

== Historical linguistics ==

Studies on earlier forms of English in Canada are rare.  Yet connections with other work to historical linguistics can be forged. An overview of diachronic work on Canadian English, or diachronically relevant work, is Dollinger.<ref>Dollinger, Stefan. 2012. [https://www.academia.edu/4001676/Varieties_of_English_Canadian_English_in_real-time_perspective Canadian English in real-time perspective] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170616071755/http://www.academia.edu/4001676/Varieties_of_English_Canadian_English_in_real-time_perspective |date=16 June 2017 }}. In: English Historical Linguistics: An International Handbook. Vol. II. (HSK 34.2), ed. by Alexander Bergs & Laurel Brinton, 1858–1880. Mouton de Gruyter. UPDATED version, for 2017, is found here: https://www.academia.edu/35010966/Varieties_of_English_Canadian_English_in_real-time_perspective_2017_updated_version_of_2012_paper_ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404213645/https://www.academia.edu/35010966/Varieties_of_English_Canadian_English_in_real-time_perspective_2017_updated_version_of_2012_paper_ |date=4 April 2023 }}</ref> Until the 2000s, basically all commentators on the history of CanE have argued from the "language-external" history, i.e. social and political history.<ref>{{cite journal | jstor=27712937 | last1=Bloomfield | first1=Morton W. | title=Canadian English and Its Relation to Eighteenth Century American Speech | journal=The Journal of English and Germanic Philology | date=1948 | volume=47 | issue=1 | pages=59–67 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | jstor=27706998 | last1=Scargill | first1=M. H. | title=Sources of Canadian English | journal=The Journal of English and Germanic Philology | date=1957 | volume=56 | issue=4 | pages=610–614 }}</ref> An exception has been in the area of lexis, where Avis ''et al.''{{'s}} 1967 ''[[Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles]]'' offered real-time historical data through its quotations. Starting in the 2000s, historical linguists have started to study earlier Canadian English with historical linguistic data. DCHP-1 is now available in open access.<ref>Dollinger, Stefan (ed.-in-chief), Laurel J. Brinton and Margery Fee (eds). 2013. [http://www.dchp.ca/DCHP-1/ DCHP-1 Online: A Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles Online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923213014/http://www.dchp.ca/DCHP-1/ |date=23 September 2015 }}. Based on Walter S. Avis et al. (1967). University of British Columbia.</ref> Most notably,{{cn|date=March 2025}} Dollinger (2008) pioneered the historical corpus linguistic approach for English in Canada with CONTE (Corpus of Early Ontario English, 1776–1849) and offers a developmental scenario for 18th- and 19th-century Ontario.<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/4006034/New-Dialect_Formation_in_Canada_Evidence_from_the_English_Modal_Auxiliaries Dollinger (2008)]</ref>

===Canadian dainty===
{{anchor|Canadian dainty}} Historically, Canadian English included a class-based [[sociolect]] known as ''Canadian dainty''.<ref name=dainty>[http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/canadian-dainty-accent-canada-day-1.4167610 "Some Canadians used to speak with a quasi-British accent called Canadian Dainty"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170705044421/http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/canadian-dainty-accent-canada-day-1.4167610 |date=5 July 2017 }}. [[CBC News]], 1 July 2017.</ref> Treated as a marker of upper-class prestige in the 19th and early 20th centuries, Canadian dainty was marked by the use of some features of [[British English]] pronunciation, resulting in an accent similar, but not identical, to the [[Good American Speech|Mid-Atlantic accent]] known in the United States.<ref name=dainty /> This accent faded in prominence following [[World War II]], when it became stigmatized as pretentious, and is now rare.<ref name=dainty />  The governor general [[Vincent Massey]], the writer and broadcaster [[Peter Stursberg]], the actor [[Lorne Greene]], and the actor [[Christopher Plummer]]<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Edelstein|first=David|date=May 27, 2011|title=Christopher Plummer on His Pivotal Film Roles|url=https://nymag.com/movies/features/christopher-plummer-2011-6/|url-access=limited|magazine=[[New York (magazine)|New York]]|access-date=January 5, 2025}}</ref> are examples of men who were raised in Canada but spoke with a British-influenced accent.<ref name=dainty />