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==== History ==== The first clear evidence of ''eh''<nowiki/>'s usage in Canada was in 1836, through the writings of [[Thomas Chandler Haliburton]], a [[Nova Scotia|Nova-Scotian]] district judge and comical writer.<ref name=":0" /> ''Eh'' was first recognized as being a marker of being Canadian in 1959 by Harold B. Allen; he stated that ''eh'' is "so exclusively a Canadian feature that immigration officials use it as an identifying clue.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Allen |first=Harold B. |date=1959 |title=Canadian-American Speech Differences Along the Middle Border |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/canadian-journal-of-linguistics-revue-canadienne-de-linguistique/article/abs/canadianamerican-speech-differences-along-the-middle-border/B0D5A737F888B7E2C043A3B23B0C2DE8 |journal=Canadian Journal of Linguistics |language=en |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=17β24 |doi=10.1017/S0008413100018521 |s2cid=149272129 |issn=0008-4131}}</ref>" However, despite mainly being perceived as a stereotypical marker of Canadian identity, ''eh'' was not recognized initially as a [[Canadianism]] in the ''[[Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles]]'' (DCHP-1).<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Avis |first=Walter S. |date=1972 |title=So eh? is Canadian, eh? |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/canadian-journal-of-linguistics-revue-canadienne-de-linguistique/article/abs/so-eh-is-canadian-eh/E1249B158D4E4DEFEC65E79EF954965D |journal=Canadian Journal of Linguistics |language=en |volume=17 |issue=2β3 |pages=89β104 |doi=10.1017/S0008413100007039 |s2cid=148790860 |issn=0008-4131}}</ref> Chief editor of the DCHP-1, Walter Avis, argued that it should not be included due to its historical use in [[British English]] and its frequency in [[American English|American]], [[Australian English|Australian]], and [[New Zealand English]].<ref name=":1" /> However, despite ''eh''<nowiki/>'s origins, it has become more frequently used in Canada than in the UK and the US, and in a broader variety of contexts.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Gold |first=Elaine |date=2010 |title=Canadian Eh? From Eh to Zed |url=https://qspace.library.queensu.ca/handle/1974/27537 |journal=Canadian English: A Linguistic Reader |issue=6 |pages=92β111 |via=Queen's University Strathy Language Unit}}</ref> Due to this frequency, it has since been included in the [[DCHP-2]] as a Preservation of British English that is Culturally Significant.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last1=Dollinger |first1=Stefan |last2=Fee |first2=Margery |date=March 2017 |title=Eh |url=http://apps.plotandscatter.com:8080/dchp2/Entries/view/eh |website=A Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles (Second Edition)}}</ref>
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