Inter-relation of canadian dialects and standard english

6. General Canadian English differs from the nonstandard dialect of Ottawa Valley. For example in Ottawa Valley, words that start with “wh”, like whether and where are pronunced with [hw], and in Standard Canadian English with both [w] and alternatively [hw]; The ever exclamations that have the meaning "habitually, at all times" occur in Ottawa Valley, but not in General Canadian.

7. Unstressed vocalism shows differences between the General Canadian Eglish and the nonstandard dialects of Canadian English in rural parts of Canada, such as Cape Breton, Lunenburg, Amber Valley, Fredericton, Ottawa Valley, Saskatchewan. Also, it shows differences within General Canadian: among urban and rural speakers, among males and females, older and younger speakers, upper middle and lower upper classes, lower working and lower middle classes, and regionally among British Columbia and Ottawa.

8. There is a tendency of younger speakers of the nonstandard dialects to speak more similarly to the General Canadian English, since General Canadian is considered to be the prestigious way of speaking. For example th-stopping appears in Newfoundland, not in General Canadian, but younger speakers of the Newfoundland nonstandard dialect use it less often, because Standard Canadian English is influencing their speech; in Newfoundland the second-person pronoun is You and sometimes Ya in singular, and ye [ji?] in plural, however, younger generations in Newfoudland use the form you only, since General Canadian English influences their speech.

9. Canadian English shows differences not only between its standard and nonstandard dialects, but also within the General Canadian English. The speech of younger and older generations of speakers differs in some features: for example, the vowel “o” between two consonants like in words hot and shone is pronunced as [o] among the younger speakers, while it is [?], among the older speakers; words like night and right are pronunced as [a?] by older and [?i] by younger speakers; Past tense of the verb to dive is dove among younger speakers and dived among older speakers.

10. General Canadian English displays some differences between the speech of males and females and among social classes. For example, in words like marry and merry, the vowel is pronunced as [?] in General Canadian English, but women over 40 pronunce it as [ж]; voicing medial /t/ occurs more among young working-class males, but not among middle-class females; /u/ after “d” as in new and duke is pronunced as [ju] among upper-class society, women and young people, and as [u] among lower classes and males.

11. General Canadian English displays some regional differences within itself. For example, closing diphtong /ou/ is pronunced as [o?] in General Canadian English, but only in Toronto, it can be pronunced as [u:]; in unstressed position; “-ing” is pronunced as [??] mostly in Vancouver and as [?n] in Ontario; a palatal africate occurs following the alveolar stops /t/ and /d/ more often in Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver and Saskatchewan than in the rest of Canada.

12. General Canadian English shows some differences in grammar between middle and upper classes and lower middle classes of society. For example, middle and upper classes use have you got, and middle classes use the form do you have.

Conclusion

In this work, we tried to present the present-day linguistic situation among the speakers of the English language in Canada. The inter-relation of Standard/General English and nonstandard English dialects in Canada is analyzed.

The contemporary Canadian English is a product of the various migrations that were happening back in the history. On the basis of these historic facts we concluded what variety of the English language became accepted as a standard dialect, in what territory it is spoken today, and among what social groups of speakers. On the other hand, thanks to the historic part of the work, it was explained where the areas of nonstandard dialects in Canada are today and among what members of society it is spoken.

Our research showed that during the history, the English Language of American and British immigrants who came to Canada in 18th and 19th centuries was the basis for developing modern Canadian English in a way that Canadian English inherited some features of the two dialects and innovated them. Furthermore, the English language that is nowadays spoken in Ontario, became the dominant, prestigious, and consequently the standard form of the English language in Canada partly because it was formed by Loyalists and Late Loyalists from Western New England and Pennsylvania. The second reason for General Canadian English to be considered the prestigious way of speaking is because it is spoken in the Capital of Canada, among politically important and highly educated people.

Also, in present-day Canada, Standard, or General Canadian English is the standard dialect that is spoken among educated middle-class Canadian society in most parts of Canadian territory. However, in the second chapter of our work, we showed that General Canadian English is not homogeneous. In some aspects, it shows alternations between younger and older speakers, among social classes, urban and rural residents, males and females, and even between educated and uneducated speakers. General Canadian English displays some differences between the speech of males and females and among social classes. For example, in words like hot and shone, the vowel is pronunced as [o] among the younger speakers, and [?] among the older speakers; /u/ after “d” as in duke is pronunced as [ju] among upper-class society, women and young people, and as [u] among lower classes and males; “-ing” in unstressed position is pronunced as [??] mostly in Vancouver and as [?n] in Ontario.

On the other hand, according to Canadian linguists, there are nonstandard regional dialects of Canadian English that are concentrated in specific territorial enclaves of variation. Such as for example the area of Newfoundland and Labrador, Ottawa Valley, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward's Island, etc. In the second chapter of our work we indeed found and described certain distinctive features in the phonetics and partly grammar between the standard and nonstandard regional dialects of Canadian English. However, from our point of view, these features do not sharply differ.

Be that as it may, our work covers only a part of the whole linguistic situation in Canadian English, and we see some possible directions for further research. A large-scale sociolinguistic survey of Canadian native English-speaking population of all ages, gender, and social status, as well as in all dialectal zones, cities and villages of Canada should be conducted. In this way, it is possible to collect a more representative sample of respondents and obtain wider and more precise description of the Canadian English language.

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