Our City Garden *video*

[Zana]

Originally Posted by dustdevil

I noticed you don't speak with a Canadian dialect and don't use duct tape to hold your tomato plants on the stakes...

The Canadian citizenship test:
Spell Canada: C eh N eh D eh

OMG....love it....I might even do up a Tshirt for Canada Day tomorrow that reads that!

There are actually more than one accent in Ontario. And it even is beginning to vary within the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). There is definitely a distinct difference from northern Ontario to southern Ontario...the Ottawa Valley has a distinctive difference.

Down East, you've got quite a few different ones. There is a definite difference from Labrador to "the Rock" (Newfoundland) to Cape Breton to southern Nova Scotia to New Brunswick or the Gaspe or PEI (Prince Edward Island)....and that's only about 1/4 of Canada's landmass!

To add to the mix you have the different French speaking accents....and that's a whole different thread!

Out "West" seems to be less varied at first glance, but it does depend upon the area, and who settled it and how remote it is.

I was talking to a linguistic professor about the accents in North America a few years ago. He says the areas settled the longest tend to have the most varied accents. The ones that were settled the most recently tend to have less. The age of radio and television has also had an effect, with many shows "homogenizing" the accents. But the more immigration that occurs in an area the more chances that it can change regional accents at a grass roots level.

And for the record....I can hear a few signifiers from Down East, but allot of Ontario in your accent...as well as a few I can't place exactly. When I lived in the UK I got to the point where I could place allot of UK accents within 15 to 35 miles. It became a bit of a party trick. And one my father seemed to delight in using to fleece a few of his friends' wallets. LOL Not sure I could be that accurate now...probably within 50 miles.

Zana ~~ who lives down the 401 from Brampton in an area where the accent used to have a distinctly German flavour to it.... ....still does with the older population.

[ubergoober]

Hard to place probably because I have lived in so many areas. P.E.I., Germany, Southern Manitoba, various places in Ontario, Boston MA, New Brunswick....

[remy]

Originally Posted by shlacm

I grew up in CA and say there is NO California accent... wonder if there are those who disagree? I've developed a hint of a Southern accent out here in VA though.

There is a California accent! I know it when I hear it. A lady at work has it, and I've run into others with it. I have to remember to ask what part of California she is from because it is a big state and all of it might not have the voice I know.

"The Canadian citizenship test:
Spell Canada: C eh N eh D eh"
Remy