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Accents from Toronto,Canadian and US accents...and a mention about NY/LI...

Mystic Point and Everyone: Good topic here on accents-they fascinate me to a large extent!

I noticed your mention of Brooklyn and Staten Island concerning Woodbridge-I first thought of Woodbridge,New Jersey because of its close proximity to Staten Island in northern Middlesex County,NJ but I now realize that you mean Woodbridge,Ontario...

Southern Brooklyn and Staten Island was noted recently in a NY Post story as one of the last strongholds of the heavy New York accent...and I will also mention that the Long Island accent has been noted as slowly disappearing...many also note the "Jersey" accent which is spoken basically only in northeastern NJ near NYC...you notice the change the further you go south in NJ from central Ocean County across to the Trenton area...if you looked at the boundary line of the two original area codes
in NJ (201 N and 609 S) it practically denoted the two large regional dialects spoken in NJ-the northern type found in the 201 area and the Middle Atlantic/Philadelphia type found in the 609 area...

I remember that WNY and the Ontario Niagara Region has a close relationship traditionally-it does not surprise me that the accents have "crossed the border" in more ways then one...I remember some Buffalo area people I once dealt with describe the local accent as "Canadian" but as an outsider I did notice the difference...I remember a noticeable difference even in both sides of Niagara Falls!

The accents of the US East Coast are much more localized then the large regional coverage in both the US and Canadian midwest...the US Midwestern or "Lakes" accent begins in central/western NY State and goes across NW PA,Northern Ohio
and Indiana and practically all of Michigan towards Chicago and mostly NW towards Wisconsin and Minnesota...

I knew that there were Canadian regional dialects like the Eastern Ontario and Newfoundland accents and I found that even Winnipeg-even though it is near the US on a land border and solidly in the Midwest-had noticeably different speech then nearby North Dakota...

I once had a strong Long Island accent but I did live outside of the NY area for most of the 90s-and I know from talking to people I know that I have lost some of it or perhaps the hard edge...I remember traveling to Toronto in basically the 80s and I recall that my accent was a dead giveaway that I was not from the Toronto area...

In closing I do find accents neat but I also have noticed changes-especially in regional accents and I do agree that some are sadly disappearing...

Thoughts and insight from LI MIKE
 
This is why people who live in Woodbridge, Vaughan, Markham, Mississauga ... and even Kitchener and Peterborough often tell people that they are from Toronto when they are in Europe - or even in the USA.
 
I have friends in Chicago who kid us abowt our speech as we kid them. In Chicago my friends name is not Tom it is Tam, he doesn't play hockey he plays hackey. His ruff had to be reshingled last year at a cost of several thousand dallars.
 
I'm going to defend Lezouris about the short "e" sounding like short "a", though, at first, I wondered what you were talking about! I don't think it's as common as "abe-ot", but I have a friend from Mississauga who's 34 and totally does this (in conjunction with what I'd call a "Valley Girl" inflection.) -"Oh my God, I gat it now!" I also have a cousin, well into his 60s, from north of Orangeville who's short "e"s sound kind of like "a"s. When he talks, he'd remind you a bit of Don Cherry. -"Bob and the wife moved e-ot to Rad Deer.' Here, the "e" sits somewhere between short "e" and short "a".
 
dahusbandofbath said:
I'm going to defend Lezouris about the short "e" sounding like short "a", though, at first, I wondered what you were talking about! I don't think it's as common as "abe-ot", but I have a friend from Mississauga who's 34 and totally does this (in conjunction with what I'd call a "Valley Girl" inflection.) -"Oh my God, I gat it now!" I also have a cousin, well into his 60s, from north of Orangeville who's short "e"s sound kind of like "a"s. When he talks, he'd remind you a bit of Don Cherry. -"Bob and the wife moved e-ot to Rad Deer.' Here, the "e" sits somewhere between short "e" and short "a".
Click to expand...

I don't think I've ever heard this, and I've lived in Mississauga my entire life. So it can't possibly be a Mississauga thing. Do either of you have a YouTube example of someone speaking this way?
 
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Coruscanti Cognoscente said:
I don't think I've ever heard this, and I've lived in Mississauga my entire life. So it can't possibly be a Mississauga thing. Do either of you have a YouTube example of someone speaking this way?
Click to expand...

I've been scouring Youtube for an example of an "e" that sounds a bit like short "a". I've been listening to a lot of Canadian accents.

Firstly, I would like to retract what I said about Canadian oldtimers pronouncing "e" like short "a". Perhaps an American might make that assertion based on the absense of any "ee" sound before short "e" (bee-ed for bed.) It's a bit of a stretch, though.

I did , however, find an example of short "e" sounding almost like short "a" in the context of what I'd call a pseudo-Valley Girl accent. A friend of mine from Mississauga talks a bit like this and I hear it periodically among the teenaged girls I teach at school.

Embarrasingly, the following clip is NOT Canadian, negating any suggestion that this "e to a" sound is in any way indicative of a Canadian accent. If, however, you're still interested in understanding what I'm talking about, here's the link. Listen to how the "girl" says "Let's get them!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPDl2g8Upvk&NR=1
 
dahusbandofbath said:
I've been scouring Youtube for an example of an "e" that sounds a bit like short "a". I've been listening to a lot of Canadian accents.

Firstly, I would like to retract what I said about Canadian oldtimers pronouncing "e" like short "a". Perhaps an American might make that assertion based on the absense of any "ee" sound before short "e" (bee-ed for bed.) It's a bit of a stretch, though.

I did , however, find an example of short "e" sounding almost like short "a" in the context of what I'd call a pseudo-Valley Girl accent. A friend of mine from Mississauga talks a bit like this and I hear it periodically among the teenaged girls I teach at school.

Embarrasingly, the following clip is NOT Canadian, negating any suggestion that this "e to a" sound is in any way indicative of a Canadian accent. If, however, you're still interested in understanding what I'm talking about, here's the link. Listen to how the "girl" says "Let's get them!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPDl2g8Upvk&NR=1
Click to expand...

I just watched the whole thing, but didn't notice the "Let's get them" that you refer to because I wasn't listening for it at the time. What's the time index when he says that?

The only remarkable thing about his accent is the "i" to "e" (bitch becomes betch, dick becomes deck, etc) but I think it's just a part of the character and not an actual accent.
 
My grandmother used to say "Warsh" instead of wash. I don't hear anyone say this anymore. Also, my dad pronounces many words differently. The first one that comes to mind is 'theatre' which he pronounces as "Theee Ater". I don't know if this is an American influence as I grew up close to the Windsor/Detroit border.
 
SixPoints said:
My grandmother used to say "Warsh" instead of wash. I don't hear anyone say this anymore. Also, my dad pronounces many words differently. The first one that comes to mind is 'theatre' which he pronounces as "Theee Ater". I don't know if this is an American influence as I grew up close to the Windsor/Detroit border.
Click to expand...

My dad pronounces "garage" as "ga-raj" instead of "ga-roj". Hmm my typing it out doesn't do it justice.

What I do find interesting is that most Canadians pronounce "clique" and "niche" the French way, unlike Americans who say "click" and "nitch" which drives me totally bonkers.

I realize I'm referring more to the Canadian Accent now as opposed to the Toronto Accent, but I just wanted to make note of it.

I asked a question in the now-locked thread that no one answered.

How many people on here pronounce words like "new" as "noo" versus "nee-you"? i.e. Does "new" rhyme with "you" or "few" for you?
Personally I rhyme "new" with "few" and not "you". But I say "stoodent" not "styudent". So I guess I'm not consistent :-/
 
Here's some questions I made up based on reading the Wiki on the Canadian English.

1. Do "father" and "bother" rhyme to you?
2. Do "pin" and "pen" rhyme?
3. Do "caught" and "cot" rhyme?
4. Do "been" and "bin" rhyme?
5. Do Fragile/Fertile/Mobile rhyme with "smile"?
6. "Vase" rhyme with "base" or "bras"
7. Do "rider" and "writer" rhyme for you?
8. Do "bag" and "vague" rhyme to you?
9. Do "couch" and "cow" have the same vowel to you?

My answers are as follows:


1. Do "father" and "bother" rhyme to you? Yes
2. Do "pin" and "pen" rhyme? No
3. Do "caught" and "cot" rhyme? Yes
4. Do "been" and "bin" rhyme? Sometimes
5. Do Fragile/Fertile/Mobile rhyme with "smile"? Sometimes
6. "Vase" rhyme with "base" or "bras" Sometimes
7. Do "rider" and "writer" rhyme for you? No
8. Do "bag" and "vague" rhyme to you? No
9. Do "couch" and "cow" have the same vowel to you? No
 
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