Canadian English

                                   

It is said that Canadian English (CaE) used to be the most related to British English due to the ties to the motherland and active belonging in the Commonwealth. Nevertheless since the eighteenth century it has received a lot of influences from French and aboriginal languages, and after the Second World War the so called "Canadian dainty" with British accent (following the Received Pronunciation) began to decrease and the Canadian media (radio, television, press, literature...) boost the mixture of words from the neighbour US, French and indigenous languages.

The most distinctive features are the Canadian shift ( cot-caught merge which triggered other vowel sounds), the raise of "ou" vowel sound slightly, double "l", out pronunced as /oat/, the Greek ending in -ize in words instead of British "-ise". There are many AmE words such as curb, tire...especially related to commerce whereas BrE is used for political terms due to ties to the UK. 

Indigenous words such as moccasin, toboggan, moose,  kayak, chipmunk, igloo, muskie, etc. And unique Canadian words such as timmies (coffee shop), ioone (Canadian one dollar coin), Canuck (Canadian person), washroom (public toilet), etc. 

There are many dialects the main regions which are West (in Alberta, Manitoba...), Quebec, Newfoundland, Toronto, Ottawa, Maritimes (a blend of Scottish and Irish English spoken in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island) and the Fist Nations Canadian dialects which is influenced by Inuit languages.

In the Canadian parliament is followed the Hansard transcripts for the spelling and since 2022 the Editor´s Association is leading the writing of a new Canadian English Dictionary within a national consortium that is made up by the Editor´s Association of Canada along with the UBC Canadian English Lab and Queens University.

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