Editing Canadian English (section)

=== Regional variation ===
The literature has for a long time conflated the notions of Standard Canadian English (StCE) and regional variation. While some regional dialects are close to Standard Canadian English, they are not identical to it. To the untrained ear, for instance, a BC middle-class speaker from a rural setting may seemingly be speaking Standard Canadian English, but, given Chambers' definition, such a person, because of the rural provenance, would not be included in the accepted definition (see the previous section). The ''Atlas of North American English'', while being the best source for US regional variation, is not a good source for Canadian regional variation, as its analysis is based on only 33<ref>{{Cite book
| title     = The Atlas of North American English
| last      = Labov, Ash and Boberg
| publisher = de Gruyter
| year      = 2005
| pages     = Chapter 20
}}</ref> Canadian speakers. Boberg's (2005, 2008) studies offer the best data for the delimitation of dialect zones. The results for vocabulary<ref>{{Cite journal
| last    = Boberg
| first   = Charles
| year    = 2005
| title   = The North American Regional Vocabulary Survey: New variables and methods in the study of North American English
| journal = American Speech
| volume  = 80
| issue   = 1
| pages   = 22–60
| doi   = 10.1215/00031283-80-1-22
}}</ref> and phonetics<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal
| last    = Boberg
| first   = Charles
| s2cid = 146478485
| year    = 2008
| title   = Regional phonetic differentiation in Standard Canadian English
| journal = Journal of English Linguistics
| volume  = 36
| issue   = 2
| pages   = 129–54
| doi   = 10.1177/0075424208316648
}}</ref> overlap to a great extent, which has allowed the proposal of dialect zones. Dollinger and Clarke<ref name="Archived copy"/> distinguish between:
* West (B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba; with B.C. a sub-zone on the lexical level)
* Ontario (with Northwestern Ontario a transition zone with the West)
* Quebec (concerning the c. 500 000 Anglophone speakers in the province, not the Francophone speakers of English)
* Maritimes (PEI, NS, NB, with PEI a subgroup on the lexical level)
* Newfoundland

==== Indigenous ====
{{Main|Aboriginal English in Canada}}
{{Further|Canadian Aboriginal syllabics|Inuit languages}}
The words ''Aboriginal'' and ''Indigenous'' are capitalized when used in a Canadian context.<ref name="v778">{{cite web | title=The Canadian Style | website=TERMIUM Plus® | date=October 8, 2009 | url=https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tcdnstyl-chap?lang=eng&lettr=chap_catlog&info0=14 | access-date=July 16, 2024}}</ref><ref name="j729">{{cite web | title=4.11 Races, languages and peoples, 4.12 | website=TERMIUM Plus® | date=October 8, 2009 | url=https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tcdnstyl-chap?lang=eng&lettr=indx_catlog&info0=4.11&info1=4.12 | access-date=July 16, 2024}}</ref><ref name="s316">{{cite web | title=Indigenous Peoples | website=University of Guelph | date=Nov 14, 2019 | url=https://news.uoguelph.ca/guides/style-guide/inclusive-language/indigenous-peoples/ | access-date=Jul 24, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=14.12 Elimination of Racial and Ethnic Stereotyping, Identification of Groups|url=https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tcdnstyl-srch?lang=eng&srchtxt=indigenous&cur=2&nmbr=2&lettr=14&info0=14.12#zz14|website=Translation Bureau|publisher=Public Works and Government Services Canada|access-date=2 July 2020|language=en|year=2017}}</ref><ref name="McKay">{{cite web|last1=McKay |first1=Celeste |title=Briefing Note on Terminology |url=http://umanitoba.ca/student/indigenous/terminology.html |publisher=University of Manitoba |access-date=2 July 2020 |date=April 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161025224808/http://umanitoba.ca/student/indigenous/terminology.html |archive-date=October 25, 2016 }}</ref><ref name=":088">{{Cite journal|last=Todorova|first=Miglena|date=2016|title=Co-Created Learning: Decolonizing Journalism Education in Canada|journal=Canadian Journal of Communication|volume=41|issue=4|pages=673–92|doi=10.22230/cjc.2016v41n4a2970|doi-access=free}}</ref>

[[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] and [[Inuit]] from Northern Canada speak a version of Canadian English influenced by the phonology of their first languages. Non-indigenous Canadians in these regions are relatively recent arrivals, and have not produced a dialect that is distinct from southern Canadian English.

Overall, First Nations Canada English dialects rest between language loss and language revitalization. British Columbia has the greatest linguistic diversity, as it is home to about half of the Indigenous languages spoken in Canada. Most of the languages spoken in the province are endangered due to the small number of speakers. To some extent, the dialects reflect the historical contexts where English has been a major colonizing language. The dialects are also a result of the late stages of [[pidgin|depidginization]] and [[decreolization]], which resulted in linguistic markers of Indigenous identity and solidarity. These dialects are observed to have developed a [[lingua franca]] due to the contact between English and Indigenous populations, and eventually, the various dialects began to converge with standard English.

Certain First Nations English have also shown to have phonological standard Canadian English, thus resulting in a more distinct dialect formation. Plains Cree, for instance, is a language that has less phonological contrasts compared to standard Canadian English. Plains Cree has no voicing contrast. The stops {{IPA|/p/}}, {{IPA|/t/}}, and {{IPA|/k/}} are mostly voiceless and unaspirated, though they may vary in other phonetic environments from voiceless to voiced. Plains Cree also does not have the liquids or fricatives found in the standard form. [[Dene Suline]], on the other hand, has more phonological contrasts, resulting in the use of features not seen in the standard form. The language has 39 phonemic consonants and a higher proportion of glottalized consonants.<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1080/02699200802221620 | title=First Nations English dialects in Canada: Implications for speech-language pathology | date=2008 | last1=Ball | first1=Jessica | last2=Bernhardt | first2=B. May | journal=Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics | volume=22 | issue=8 | pages=570–588 | pmid=18645739 }}</ref>

==== Maritimes ====
{{Main|Canadian Maritime English}}
[[File:Atlantic Canada IPA chart.PNG|350px|right|thumb|Based on Labov ''et al.''; [[Formant#Phonetics|averaged F1/F2 means]] for speakers from N.S., N.B., N.L.]]
Many in the Maritime provinces&nbsp;– [[Nova Scotia]], [[New Brunswick]] and [[Prince Edward Island]]&nbsp;– have an accent that sounds more like [[Scottish English]] and, in some places, [[Irish English]] than General American. Outside of major communities, dialects can vary markedly from community to community, as well as from province to province, reflecting ethnic origin as well as a past in which there were few roads and many communities, with some isolated villages. Into the 1980s, residents of villages in northern Nova Scotia could identify themselves by dialects and accents distinctive to their village. The dialects of Prince Edward Island are often considered the most distinct grouping.

The phonology of [[Maritimer English]] has some unique features:
* ''Cot–caught'' merger in effect, but toward a central vowel {{IPA|[ɑ̈]}}.
* No Canadian Shift of the short [[front vowel]]s
* Pre-consonantal {{IPA|/r/}} is sometimes (though rarely) deleted.
* The flapping of intervocalic {{IPA|/t/}} and {{IPA|/d/}} to alveolar tap {{IPA|[ɾ]}} between vowels, as well as pronouncing it as a glottal stop {{IPA|[ʔ]}}, is less common in the Maritimes. Therefore, ''battery'' is pronounced {{IPA|[ˈbætɹi]}} instead of {{IPA|[ˈbæɾ(ɨ)ɹi]}}.
* Especially among the older generation, {{IPA|/w/}} and {{IPA|/hw/}} are not merged; that is, the beginning sound of ''why'', ''white'', and ''which'' is different from that of ''witch'', ''with'', and ''wear''.
* Like most varieties of CanE, Maritimer English contains [[Canadian raising]].

'''Nova Scotia'''
As with many other distinct dialects, vowels are a marker of Halifax English as a distinctive variant of Canadian English. Typically, Canadian dialects have a merger of the low back vowels in palm, lot, thought and cloth. The merged vowel in question is usually /ɑ/ or sometimes the rounded variant /ɒ/. Meanwhile, in Halifax, the vowel is raised and rounded. For example, body; popped; and gone. In the homophones, caught-cot and stalk-stock, the rounding in the merged vowel is also much more pronounced here than in other Canadian varieties. The Canadian Shift is also not as evident in the traditional dialect. Instead, the front vowels are raised. For example, the vowel in had is raised to [hæed]; and camera is raised to [kæmra].

Although it has not been studied extensively, the speech of Cape Breton specifically seems to bear many similarities with the nearby island of Newfoundland, which is often why Westerners can have a hard time differentiating the two accents. For instance, they both use the fronting of the low back vowel. These similarities can be attributed to geographic proximity, the fact that about one-quarter of the Cape Breton population descends from Irish immigrants (many of whom arrived via Newfoundland) and the Scottish and Irish influences on both provinces. The speech of Cape Breton can almost be seen as a continuum between the two extremes of the Halifax variant and the Newfoundland variant. In addition, there is heavy influence of standard varieties of Canadian English on Cape Breton English, especially in the diphthongization of the goat and goose vowels and the frequent use of Canadian raising.<ref>{{cite book | doi=10.1017/CBO9780511676529.005 | chapter=Canadian Maritime English | title=The Lesser-Known Varieties of English | date=2010 | last1=Kiefte | first1=Michael | last2=Bird | first2=Elizabeth Kay-Raining | pages=59–71 | isbn=978-0-521-88396-2 }}</ref>

==== Newfoundland ====
{{Main|Newfoundland English}}

Compared to the commonly spoken English dominating neighbouring provinces, Newfoundland English is famously distinct in its dialects and accents. Newfoundland English differs in [[vowel]] [[pronunciation]], [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]], [[syntax]], and preservation of archaic adverbial-intensifiers. The dialect varies markedly from community to community, as well as from region to region. Its distinctiveness partly results from a European settlement history that dates back centuries, which explains Newfoundland's most notable linguistic regions: an Irish-settled area in the southeast (the southern Avalon Peninsula) and an English-settled area in the southwest.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1467-971X.2012.01777.x|doi=10.1111/j.1467-971X.2012.01777.x |title=Phonetic change in Newfoundland English |year=2012 |last1=Clarke |first1=Sandra |journal=World Englishes |volume=31 |issue=4 |pages=503–518 }}</ref>

A well-known phonetic feature many Newfoundland speakers possess is the [[kit-dress merger]]. The mid lax /ɛ/ here is raised to the high lax stressed /ɪ/, particularly before oral stops and nasals, so consequently "pen" is pronounced more like "pin".

Another phonetic feature more unique to Newfoundland English is TH-stopping. Here, the [[voiceless dental fricative]] /θ/ in words like ''myth'' and ''width'' are pronounced more like ''t'' or the [[voiced dental fricative]] /ð/ in words like ''the'' and ''these''. TH-stopping is more common for /ð/, especially in unstressed function words (e.g. that, those, their, etc.).<ref>Clarke, Sandra. "[https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/newfoundland-and-labrador-english/phonetics-and-phonology/CC8CC18C1EBB88AA487101F4011FFE14 Phonetics and Phonology]". Newfoundland and Labrador English. Edinburgh UP, 2010. 19-66.
</ref>

==== Ontario ====
Canadian raising is quite strong throughout the province of [[Ontario]], except within the [[Ottawa Valley]]. The introduction of Canadian raising to Canada can be attributed to the Scottish and Irish immigrants who arrived in the 18th and 19th centuries. The origins of Canadian raising to Scotland and revealed that the Scottish dialects spoken by these immigrants had a probable impact on its development. This feature impacts the pronunciation of the {{IPA|/aɪ/}} sound in "right" and the {{IPA|/aʊ/}} sound in "lout". Canadian Raising indicates a scenario where the start of the diphthong is nearer to the destination of the glide before voiceless consonants than before voiced consonants.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Thomas |first=Erik R. |date=June 1991 |title=The Origin of Canadian Raising in Ontario |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/canadian-journal-of-linguistics-revue-canadienne-de-linguistique/article/abs/origin-of-canadian-raising-in-ontario/2558C7001D862B8B04EEDDDC9FCA85BD |journal=Canadian Journal of Linguistics / Revue canadienne de linguistique |language=en |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=147–170 |doi=10.1017/S0008413100014304 |s2cid=149218782 }}</ref> The [[Canadian Shift]] is also a common [[vowel shift]] found in Ontario. The retraction of {{IPA|/æ/}} was found to be more advanced for women in Ontario than for people from the [[Canadian Prairies|Prairies]] or [[Atlantic Canada]] and men.<ref>{{cite journal
| last1   = Chambers
| first1  = J. K.
| title   = Canadian raising
| journal = Canadian Journal of Linguistics / Revue canadienne de linguistique
| date    = Fall 1973
| volume  = 18
| issue   = 2
| pages   = 113–135
| doi     = 10.1017/S0008413100007350
| s2cid = 247196050
}}</ref>

In the southern part of [[Southwestern Ontario]] (roughly in the line south from Sarnia to St. Catharines), despite the existence of many characteristics of West/Central Canadian English, many speakers, especially those under 30, speak a dialect influenced by the [[Inland Northern American English]] dialect (in part due to proximity to cities like Detroit and Buffalo, New York){{citation needed|date=April 2023}} though there are minor differences such as Canadian raising (e.g. "ice" vs "my").

The north and northwestern parts of Southwestern Ontario, the area consisting of the Counties of [[Huron County, Ontario|Huron]], [[Bruce County, Ontario|Bruce]], [[Grey County, Ontario|Grey]], and [[Perth County, Ontario|Perth]], referred to as the "Queen's Bush" in the 19th century, did not experience communication with the dialects of the southern part of Southwestern Ontario and Central Ontario until the early 20th century. Thus, a strong accent similar to Central Ontarian is heard, yet many different phrasings exist. It is typical in the area to drop phonetic sounds to make shorter contractions, such as: ''prolly'' (probably), ''goin{{'}}'' (going), and "Wuts goin' on tonight? D'ya wanna do sumthin'?"{{Clarification needed|reason=This section should be more specific and use the IPA. The 'dropping' described here is unremarkable.|date=July 2023}} It is particularly strong in the County of Bruce, so much that it is commonly referred to as being the Bruce Cownian (Bruce Countian) accent. Also, {{IPA|/ɜr/}} merge with {{IPA|/ɛr/}} to {{IPA|[ɛɹ]}}, with "were" sounding more like "wear".{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}}

Residents of the [[Golden Horseshoe]] (including the [[Greater Toronto Area]]) are known to [[intervocalic alveolar flapping|merge the second {{IPA|/t/|cat=no}} with the {{IPA|/n/|cat=no}}]] in ''Toronto'', pronouncing the name variously as {{IPA|[təˈɹɒɾ̃o]}} or {{IPA|[ˈtɹɒɾ̃o]}}. This is not unique to Toronto; Atlanta is often pronounced "Atlanna" by residents. Sometimes {{IPA|/ð/}} is elided altogether, resulting in "Do you want this one er'iss one?" The word ''southern'' is often pronounced with {{IPA|[aʊ]}}. In the area north of the [[Regional Municipality of York]] and south of [[Parry Sound, Ontario|Parry Sound]], notably among those who were born in the surrounding communities, the cutting down of syllables and consonants often heard, e.g. "probably" is reduced to "prolly" or "probly" when used as a response. In Greater Toronto, the [[diphthong]] tends to be fronted (as a result the word ''about'' is pronounced as {{IPA|[əˈbɛʊt]}}). The Greater Toronto Area is linguistically diverse, with 43 percent of its people having a mother tongue other than English.<ref>{{cite web
| url         = http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/english/economy/demographics/census/cenhi06-8.pdf
| title         = 2006 Census Highlights – Mother tongue and Language
| access-date         = 7 February 2017
| publisher         = [[Ontario]] Ministry of Finance
| archive-date         = 26 March 2009
| archive-url         = https://web.archive.org/web/20090326211244/http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/english/economy/demographics/census/cenhi06-8.pdf
| url-status         = live
}}</ref> As a result [[Toronto slang|Toronto English]] has distinctly more variability than Inland Canada.<ref>Labov pp. 214–215.</ref>

In [[Eastern Ontario]], [[Canadian raising]] is not as strong as it is in the rest of the province. In [[Prescott and Russell United Counties, Ontario|Prescott and Russell]], parts of [[Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry United Counties|Stormont-Dundas-Glengarry]] and Eastern Ottawa, French accents are often mixed with English ones due to the high Franco-Ontarian population there. In [[Lanark County, Ontario|Lanark County]], Western Ottawa and [[Leeds and Grenville United Counties, Ontario|Leeds-Grenville]] and the rest of [[Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry United Counties|Stormont-Dundas-Glengarry]], the accent spoken is nearly identical to that spoken in [[Central Ontario]] and the [[Quinte]] area.

A linguistic enclave has also formed in the [[Ottawa Valley]], heavily influenced by original Scottish, Irish, and German settlers, and existing along the Ontario-Quebec boundary, which has its own distinct accent known as the [[Ottawa Valley twang]] (or brogue).<ref>Henry, Alison. 1992. Infinitives in a For-To Dialect. ''Natural Language & Linguistic Theory'' 2, 279.</ref> Phonetically, the Ottawa Valley twang is characterized by the lack of Canadian raising as well as the [[cot–caught merger]], two common elements of mainstream Canadian English. This accent is quite rare in the region today.<ref>Cheshire, Jenny. (ed.) 1991. ''English Around the World: Sociolinguistic Perspectives''. Cambridge University Press, 134.</ref>

==== Quebec ====
{{Main|Quebec English}}
English is a minority language in Quebec (with French the majority), but has many speakers in Montreal, the [[Eastern Townships]] and in the [[Gatineau]]-[[Ottawa]] region. A person whose mother tongue is English and who still speaks English is called an ''Anglophone'', versus a ''Francophone'', or French speaker.

Many people in [[Montreal]] distinguish between words like ''marry'' versus ''merry'' and ''parish'' versus ''perish'',<ref name="Labov" /> which are homophones to most other speakers of Canadian English. Quebec Anglophones generally pronounce French street names in Montreal as French words. ''Pie IX'' Boulevard is pronounced as in French: not as "pie nine" but as {{IPAc-en|ˌ|p|iː|ˈ|n|ʊ|f}} {{respell|pee|NUUF|'}} (compare French /pi.nœf/). On the other hand, Anglophones pronounce the final ''d'' as in ''Bernard'' and ''Bouchard''; the word ''Montreal'' is pronounced as an English word and ''Rue Lambert-Closse'' is known as ''Clossy Street'' (vs French /klɔs/). In the city of Montreal, especially in some of the western suburbs like Côte-St-Luc and Hampstead, there is a strong Jewish influence in the English spoken in those areas. A large wave of Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union before and after World War II is also evident today. Their English has a strong Yiddish influence, and there are some similarities to English spoken in New York. Words used mainly in Quebec and especially in Montreal are:<ref>Boberg, p. 36.</ref> ''stage'' for "apprenticeship" or "internship", ''copybook'' for a notebook, ''dépanneur'' or ''dep'' for a convenience store, and ''guichet'' for an ABM/ATM. It is also common for Anglophones, particularly those of Greek or Italian descent, to use translated French words instead of common English equivalents such as "open" and "close" for "on" and "off" or "Open the lights, please" for "Turn on the lights, please".

==== West ====
Western Canadian English describes the English spoken in the four most western provinces—[[British Columbia]], [[Alberta]], [[Saskatchewan]], and [[Manitoba]]. [[British Columbia]], in particular is a sub-zone on the lexical level. Phonetically, Western Canadian English has much more {{IPA|/æɡ/}} raising and much less {{IPA|/æn/}} than further east, and Canadian raised {{IPA|/aʊ/}} is further back.<ref name=":2" />

==== British Columbia ====
{{See also|Pacific Northwest English}}
British Columbia English shares dialect features with both Standard Canadian English and the American Pacific Northwest English. In [[Vancouver]], speakers exhibit more vowel retraction of {{IPA|/æ/}} before nasals than people from [[Toronto]], and this retraction may become a regional marker of West Coast English.<ref>Erin Hall "Regional variation in Canadian English vowel backing"</ref> {{IPA|/ɛɡ/}} raising (found in words such as beg, leg, and peg) and {{IPA|/æɡ/}} raising (found words such as bag, lag and rag), a prominent feature in Northwestern American speakers, is also found in Vancouver speakers, causing "beg" to sound like the first syllable of "bagel" and "bag" to be similar.<ref>{{Cite journal
| last    = Swan
| first   = Julia
| year    = 2016
| title   = Canadian English in the Pacific Northwest: A phonetic comparison of Vancouver, BC and Seattle, WA
| journal = Proceedings of the 2016 Annual Conference of the Canadian Linguistic Association
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Swan |first=Julia Thomas |type=PhD |title=Language Ideologies, Border Effects, and Dialectal Variation: Evidence from /æ/, /aʊ/, and /aɪ/ in Seattle, WA and Vancouver, B.C. |url=https://www.academia.edu/27285498 |publisher=University of Chicago}}</ref> In the past, the ANAE reported that Vancouverites' participation in the Canadian raising of {{IPA|/aɪ/}} was questionable,<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|p=206}}</ref> but nowadays they tend to raise both {{IPA|/aɪ/}} and {{IPA|/aʊ/}}.<ref name=":2" /> The "o" in such words as ''holy, goal, load, know,'' etc. is pronounced as a close-mid back rounded vowel, {{IPA|[o]}}, but not as rounded as in the Prairies where there are strong Scandinavian, Slavic and German influences, which can lend to a more stereotypical "Canadian" accent.

Finally, there is also the /t/ sound which according to Gregg (2016), "with many [Vancouver] speakers [is] intrusive between /l/ or /n/ and /s/ in words like sense {{IPA|/sɛnts/}}, Wilson /wɪltsən/ [and] also /'ɒltsoʊ/ ".<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1017/S000841310002483X | title=Notes on the Pronunciation of Canadian English as Spoken in Vancouver, B.C. | date=1957 | last1=Gregg | first1=R. J. | journal=Canadian Journal of Linguistics / Revue canadienne de linguistique | volume=3 | pages=20–26 }}</ref>

====Saskatchewan====
English in Saskatchewan has its pool of phonetic features shared with other provinces used by certain demographics. For instance, it has the consonant variables /ntV/ and /VtV/, the latter being a common feature of North American English and is defined as the intervoicing of /t/ between vowels. Meanwhile, /ntV/ "frequently occurs in words such as "centre" and "twenty" where /t/ follows the alveolar nasal /n/ and precedes an unstressed vowel".<ref name="dspace.library.uvic.ca">Nylvek, Judith A. Canadian English in Saskatchewan: A Sociolinguistic Survey of Four Selected Regions, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1992.
https://dspace.library.uvic.ca/handle/1828/9545</ref> According to Nylvek (1992), both variables of /t/ are generally more often used by younger male over older female speakers.<ref name="dspace.library.uvic.ca"/>