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American Accents of Toronto

A friend from Montreal moved to downtown Toronto last month. He can't get over how American sounding our accent dialect is.

BTW - Canadian English is probably the most uniform dialect of English in the world. Also, English has 12 vowels, but most dialects of Canadian English only have 11. Some American dialects are losing the 12th vowel as well. So if anything, you could say some Americans sound like us - not the other way around.
 
It correctly identified me as Canadian. I do notice a slight change crossing the Niagara or Detroit Rivers. I am a fan of the Wiscansan/Minnesota accent. The tour guide at the FLW SC Johnson Headquarters tour in Racine (far enough from the Chicago influence) reminded me of Fargo so much. (Fargo seemed a bit exaggerated to me, but a few people in Racine that I encountered had similar enough accents, even the "ya" - a giveaway when she was speaking about the leaking rough. But not so much in Kenosha, I guess it must be a higher Chicago/ central midwest influence.

I also like the hybrid Maryland accent.

I thought the Canadian accent was very neutral, but I was proven wrong in Britain!
 
Canadian is "neutral", but only for North America. Proof is seen in the fact that Canadians are sought after as tv news anchors. Look at how many prominent tv reporters/anchors are Canadian.
 
All countries have a neutral form of accent that regional speakers aspire to if seeking media jobs etc. Canada is no different. I don't think NBC is looking to hire Candian speakers from North Bay or St. John's, not that there's anything wrong with them.
 
I got Canadian. There's definitely a difference in right and rise, and I hear a big difference when crossing the border.
 
A dialects accent article on WIKI adds further enlightenment.


Natives of Toronto City Core -- also known as the Old City -- pronounce the second T in Toronto -- and can identify each other instantly as a result. Additionally, in the "downtown" accent, Bloor Street is pronounced Bloor as in "door" and the effects of Canadian Raising are diminished. The Toronto " downtown "accent and dialect sound " American " to much of the rest of Canada; perhaps because the accent is basically Standard American. And unlike their suburban and Canadian cousins, a downtown born and bred Torontonian rarely if ever says " eh, " " oot " or " aboot,"
Suburban residents are known to ignore the second T, pronouncing it as "To-RAW-no", "T'Ronno" or even "Tronna" and Bloor Street as "Bluer Street". Suburban residents describe east and west as the "East End" or the "West End". Natives from the city core describe east and west as the "East side" or "East end" and the "West Side" or "West end".
In Toronto and the areas surrounding Toronto (Central Ontario, Greater Toronto Area), the [ð] is often pronounced as [d]. Sometimes (particularly in North York, an area of Toronto), [ð] is elided altogether, resulting in "Do you want this one er'iss one?" The word southern is often pronounced with [aʊ]. In the regional area north of York and south of Parry Sound, notably among those who were born in these bedroom communities (Barrie, Vaughan, Orillia, Bradford, Newmarket) as opposed to those who moved there to commute, the cutting down of syllables is often heard, e.g. "probably" is reduced to "prolly", or "probly" when used as a response.
 
I got "North Central" (Minnesota).
 
Only once in MN/WI did I encounter someone with a thick 'Fargo' accent...a Minneapolitan was trying to take my order at "Noodles & Company" and I couldn't understand a word she was saying, so I just smiled politely and had someone else order for me. I'm glad I didn't give up and eat at Chipotle next door...the Wisconsin mac & cheese I had at Noodles & Company was the best I've ever had in my life. I can't handle thick English accents (American, British, etc.) very well (I can't watch the British version of "The Office;" it's gibberish to me), but I can always understand English spoken with Asian accents, even when highly broken...must be experience.
 
A dialects accent article on WIKI adds further enlightenment.

...or further confusion. There are a number of claims/assertions that I would diagree with. In particular, the section on slang focuses oddly on a very specific social dialect which is not at all representative of the Toronto dialect. Not very helpful. (Note that the page carries a request for verification.)

Click here to read the Wikipedia article, but click on the "discussion" tab to see the criticisms of the article.
 
I got "Canadian". I'm also a victim of Canadian raising.

As for that piece from Wiki, I don't agree with a lot of it as well.
 
I got neutral... but then I grew up in Niagara, which arguably has more Western NY influence. Some people from Fort Erie have distinctly American accents. But then, the difference crossing into Buffalo is drastic.

Edit: I would also argue that the test is probably not that accurate. Listening to voice clips would probably be easier to use. I found myself not really being sure of many of the responses.
 
I'm stuck in Neutral.

Neutral

You`re not Northern, Southern, or Western, you`re just plain -American-. Your national identity is more important than your local identity, because you don`t really have a local identity. You might be from the region in that map, which is defined by this kind of accent, but you could easily not be. Or maybe you just moved around a lot growing up.


True, I'm always on the move.... and I have an American father that moved around all the time.

The only Canadian I picked up? Living in Waterloo for several years, I now find myself saying "eh.":(
 
I'm Canadian, too.

And I grew up in Montreal.

And I don't hear any big accent difference among the English speaking people of the two cities.
 
From the Wiki article:

And unlike their suburban and Canadian cousins, a downtown born and bred Torontonian rarely if ever says " eh, " " oot " or " aboot,"
Nobody I've ever met has ever said "oot" or "aboot". Unless of course they're talking about footwear. It's one of those things where people unfamilar with an accent use the closest sound they're familiar with to describe it. So to an American, scout and trout become scoot and troot or sometimes scoat and troat.

Kind of like "ronery".
 

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