Canadian accent?!?!?

Question

I never knew canadians had accents. I mean i know in certain parts like Quebec (french accents) but do we really? What does it sound like exactly =S. Where are you from?

Answer 1

Canadians whose mother tongue is English do have accents though most of them are pretty subtle, most of them would be almost impossible to describe by writing about them. East Coast people have the strongest ones but you're unlikely to hear them in news broadcasts from there, if so, only faintly. I used to be able to pick out an Ottawa Valley speaker but can't do it now. Prairie people have a slight accent, especially older ones. As we all listen to more speakers from elsewhere on TV and radio, regional accents are disappearing, so younger people are less likely to have them.

Answer 2

haha yeah! Out and About!!!

I am from Vancouver but went to Vegas for school for one year- i got made fun of eeeeverywhere i went, hahaha.

Also east coasters talk a bit differently than west coasters- in Halifax, they made fun of me for saying VAN-couver... they say VEEEN-couver

Answer 3

There is really no such thing as a Canadian accent.  We are a nation of immgrants.

My parents were born here, but my grandparents all came from Scotland.

Americans think I sound British.  People from the UK think I sound American.

Whoever said that "eh" isn't that common anymore is correct.  Nobody says it out west, where I'm from.

Answer 4

im from toronto, and we dont have any accent, not like the american media portraits it anyways.

Answer 5

i guess the biggest accent would be the newfie one right?lol

But otherwise,most people would have the normal american/californian accent.

Answer 6

people from all over have different accents. i can't explain it but if i am watching a canadian tv show i can tell by the accent. just like if u talk to someone from down south or even from new york or california. even though it is very slight it is more so the way you would say certain words like "about" sounds more like "aboat". i am from michigan and people say i sound like i am from the south. i don't know why but probably just the way i say certain words.

Answer 7

My husband who's from NB has an accent. He says I have an accent and I'm from Wisconsin. You may not hear it, but you have one. It's all relative to be honest. My husband takes more time on saying words like out, about, and house. OU has a different sound to it, when he says it than when I say it. It's not like aboot or something silly like that, but if you listen closely you hear it.

Answer 8

I'm also from Canada and I've noticed a few people with accents, but it really depends where you're from.

Answer 9

Most first generation canadians have an american accent, while 2nd generations and so on usually have a canadian accent. At least that's what I've observed so far.

Answer 10

OK listen up all you Canadians ...YES YOU DO HAVE AN ACCENT.

If you dont believe me go to another country...anywhere..Australia, Uk, Germany wherever, and they will all ask you "Oh you have an accent, are you from America, no, then where are you from?"    Just like when someone from New Zealand come's to Canada, you will say "Oh you have an accent are you from London, no, then where are you from?"  

Most Canadians cant tell the difference between English accents, they think Aussie's, Brits, Scots, etc all have the same accent.  But they dont and neither do you all.  Canadians have a Canadian accent, and it has nothing to do with saying "egh".    You say Budder instead of butter, you say warder instead of water, you say lots of words with an accent.

Answer 11

Of course we have an accent.  You don't hear yours because you're accustomed to hearing it...you speak with a certain accent and so do the vast majority of people who surround you.  As a Canadian who's spent a few years living in New Zealand I can tell you that I've grown used to the NZ accent and now that sounds normal to me.  When  I hear a Canadian accent on the street my ears perk up the same way yours do when you hear a Scotsman pass by.  Every english speaking nation has it's own accent and variations thereof...whether you notice it or not depends on what you're used to hearing.

Answer 12

eh?

Answer 13

It's hard to hear your own accent when you're used to hearing it around you all the time. Of course there is a Canadian accent because face it, we don't pronounce a lot of sounds all that clearly. For example t's often get turned into d's. Our vowels are very different than most Americans, and slightly different from the "mid atlantic accent" which is how people on TV are trained to talk.

If you listen to Canadian singers who don't try to fake a mid atlantic or american accent, it stands out because we aren't used to hearing that in music all the time. For example if you listen to Neil Young, Chilliwack or Blue Rodeo, then you will notice the Canadian accent really strongly.

I'm from B.C. and I live in the North. I noticed there are slight regional differences in accents too. Since there are so many people from Ontario here, I might be starting to sound more like them.

Answer 14

I was having an argument with a friend about this.

And I lost badly. I'm pretty sure we do have an accent (I said we didn't, but I've changed my mind).

An accent is a deviation from the original English language, and a way of pronouncing words. Since you can't actually have the original language/how to speak it, everything is a deviation, and therefore we all have accents. People can (apparently) tell we're from Canada, or at least North America, as our "accents" closely resemble the north of the United States.

I think this whole "no accent" came from the idea that our accent is very neutral, especially in the United States. But in any other country, we'd stand out as having the accent.

Also, when you think about it, we do have the Maritime and Newfie accents as well. In some countries, like England, every town/region seems to have their own local accent (or they did, when people didn't move around as much), whereas in Canada, BC to Ontario there doesn't seem to be much variation, as we all tend to move around. When a group of people tend to stick together (Quebec, Newfoundland for example) then accents form.