Examples of a Canadian accent?

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Ef Ervescence

I have often wondered why Canadians as a whole are so often accused of saying "eh", because I have heard it spoken often in only a few localities, so I seldom hear it, and never use it.

Each Province has its own general flavour of accent and argot, but you will find regional variations in each city throughout the Provinces.

Here are a few youtube examples of English as spoken in Canada..

East Coast (Newfoundland)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m-y-qAbpL0

Quebec

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lptaC1RLzSU&feature=related

And a growing one in Ontario done in humour ( specifically in Toronto...Russell Peters is a comedian from Brampton, Ontario)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw6RgIf6epQ

Webber

It is a huge country thus there are many accents in Canada. A few common words which are pronounced differently than those from the US are:
decal: dee-cal (US) vs. deckle (C)
route: rout (US) vs. root (C)
roof: americans rhyme it with 'hoof'; canadians rhyme it with 'spoof'
vehicle: vee-hickle (US) vs. vee'ical (C)

There are many more, just can't think of them right now.

Laine M

Canada has so many different accents.
You can tell the difference just between Lower Mainlanders, and the Vancouver Island Peeps!

Cariad

We say things like "roof" different, to us an American saying it sounds like "ruf" and to an American we sound like "rooooof". (like the "u" sound in "cute") Another one is the word "about". Americans say we say it like "a boot" but I cant hear that in our voices.

Tethys13

"eh" is a total stereotype. It is generally used to end a question when the person is looking for a response. Not every Canadian says "eh".

The country is huge - Canada is the second largest country in the world and most of our provinces are larger than most European countries. Different regions have different accents. Similar to the USA. A person in Maine is going to have a different accent then a person in Texas right? Same goes for Canada. An East Coast accent is MUCH MUCH different than most of Canada. Newfoundlanders have a completely different accent and vocabulary. Quebec is obviously French so many people there have a French accent. And so on.

maiden judy

OMG, "eh" is such a stereotype. We do not all say eh by the way. It is found only in a few localities. So the only accents I can think of are from the Eastern provinces. New Brunswick has a strong accent and so does Nova Scotia. Hard to describe how it sounds sorta Scottish mixed with Irish. And then in Quebec there is a certain tone to the way they speak French. A type of French slang so to speak. Again hard to describe.

kenoplayer

Just listen to some TV shows with Canadians on them. Deal or no Deal(Howie Mandel). Family Ties(Michael J. Fox). Star Trek, the original series(William Shatner). This hour has 22 minutes(Rick Mercer). First Wave(Sebastian Spence). Smallville(the actress who plays Clark Kent's girlfriend, Lana).

Martin Sheen

EH?

You know you want my body

Modest

This is not really accent-related, per se, but is common to Canadians.

Ending sentences with the word "eh".

For example, "That's some weather we're having, eh?"

bob v

most all canadians. say >> eh

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