On the Autonomy and Homogeneity of Canadian English (with Sandra Clarke) (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Eh-Bee-Cee of Canadian English: Attitudes, Perceptions, and National Identity
Canadian English has constituted a separate variety of English for several decades; however, outside Canada and the States not many people know about it, and additionally, for the past few years it has been highly influenced by its neighbouring variety, American English. The purpose of this research was to examine perceptions of Canadians towards their own variety, and the questions asked were whether they continue to regard it as a separate and ongoing variety, and an integral part of their national identity; in addition, how Swiss individuals in my adopted country, Switzerland, perceive the specific variety of Canadian English and whether they think a variety is central to the identity of a nation. A combination of qualitative and quantitative study was used, which employed two focus groups, the Canadians and the Swiss, with a common questionnaire for them to answer; post-questionnaire, a series of interviews were conducted. Key findings were that Canadians are very interested in keeping their variety alive and part of their national identity; for the Swiss, it is rather unknown as a variety, but they are very interested in learning more about it. The study was linguistically significant for the reason that it revitalised the presence of Canadian English among the more known varieties, such as American and British English; moreover, future researchers may be interested in what it has to offer as a subject and be motivated to write and research more extensively on it.
Canadian English: a conservative variety?
Zeitschrift fuer Kanada-Studien 35: 25-44, 2015
Abstract: This paper aims to assess whether CanE can be considered a conservative variety of English. As the question is profoundly general, only partial answers can be expected. Theories on the origins of CanE and notions of colonial lag offer a starting point that is complemented with questions of linguistic autonomy vs. heteronomy. Variables from morphology/syntax, phonetics, and select vocabulary items offer test cases for assessment. A central role is afforded to the methodological problems of assessment on a cline from conservative to progressive throughout. It will be shown that most statements on the general conservative/progressive character of Canadian English must be treated as opinions based on selective evidence and not as unassailable assessments based on hard facts. Zusammenfassung: Dieser Artikel untersucht die Frage, ob Kanadisches Englisch (KE) eine konservative Varietät des Englischen ist. Da die Frage sehr generell ist, können nur Teilfragen erörtert werden. Theorien über die Herkunft des KE und Konzeptionen einer kolonialen Latenzzeit (colonial lag) werden als Ansatzpunkte eingeführt, die um Fragen zur linguistischen Autonomie/Heteronomie erweitert werden. Fallstudien aus den Bereichen der Morphosyntax, Phonetik und des Vokabulars werden zur Einschätzung herangezogen, wobei eine zentrale Rolle dem methodischen Problem gilt, wie Varietäten anhand eines Merkmalsgefälles von konservativ bis progressiv eingestuft werden können. Es wird gezeigt, dass Bemerkungen zur angeblichen Konservativität des KE primär als Meinungen betrachtet werden müssen und nicht als unantastbare wissenschaftliche Typolisierungen. Résumé: L’article pose la question si l’anglais canadien est une variété conservatrice de l’anglais. S’agissant d’une approche très générale, seulement des questions de détail pourront être approfondies ici. Seront présentées, dans un premier temps, des théories concernant les origines de l’anglais canadien et des conceptions d’un legs colonial pour ensuite élargir l’analyse de questions à propos de l’autonomie/hétéronomie linguistique. L’analyse s’appuiera sur des études de cas morphosyntaxiques, phonétiques et lexiques tout en mettant l’accent sur le problème méthodologique qui consiste à savoir comment classifier les variétés à partir d’un écart de caractère allant du qualificatif « conservateur » au qualificatif « progressif ». L’article se propose de démontrer que toute remarque à propos d’une soi-disant conservativité de l’anglais canadien est hypothétique et ne peut être considérée comme une spécification scientifiquement valable.
The English Language in Canada: Status, History and Comparative Analysis
2010
English in the Canadian context -- The establishment and growth of Canada's English-speaking population -- The principal features of Canadian English : a comparative view -- Variation and change in the vocabulary of Canadian English -- Variation and change in the phonetics of Canadian English -- Summary and future directions.
Cambridge University Press, 2019
Praise by Peter Trudgill: "For this brilliantly researched book, Stefan Dollinger bravely ventured to parts of the archives other scholars had never reached. He emerged with the fascinating story of how the "Lennon & McCartney of Canadian English", Walter S. Avis and Charles J. Lovell, persuaded Canada - and then the world - to recognize Canadian English as the distinctive language variety that it truly is." Advance praise by Jack Chambers (University of Toronto): "Stefan Dollinger has undertaken heroic archival sleuthing to resuscitate the coalition of amateur logophiles and English professors that succeeded in bringing Canadian English into print and, more important, into our consciousness. Through him, this small, almost forgotten band of scholars come to life with their foibles, their labours and above all their dedication." Synopsis: "Two fatal heart attacks are among the many reasons why the names of Walter S. Avis and Charles J. Lovell, the Lennon-McCartney of Canadian English, have not become the Canadian household names they should perhaps be. This book tells their stories and those of the other Big Sixers from the 1940s to the 1990s, with a good helping of present-day hindsight. This book also writes into disciplinary history the few women researchers in early 20th-century Canada. The main goal of the book is more generally to enrich and correct the social and linguistic histories concerning some long-forgotten individuals. This exercise is thrilling and enlightening at the same time, presenting the relatively small field of Canadian English linguistics in a new, fully contextualized light, telling the stories of how Canadian English was "discovered" and eventually lifted from ridicule and disdain to — cautious, because Canadian — appreciation."
Despite considerable research activity over the past half-century (e.g., Avis 1954; Chambers 1994-; Dollinger 2008), Canadian English has not yet become a standard field of research within every English and/or linguistics department in Canada. This is surprising, as the Canadian public seems to take a real interest in their Canadian speech ways (for some examples of media coverage, see Canadian English Laboratory 2008). As with most public issues, however, only the most obvious phenomena figure prominently. In the case of language, this means that virtually all popular Canadian language handbooks focus on words and their meanings. Forty years after The Senior Dictionary (1967), the first, fully-fledged dictionary of Canadian English, Only in Canada, You Say sets out to celebrate, once more, Canadian English words. As such, Barber's book is one of the most recent additions in a lineage of word books for the Canadian public, which includes prominent predecessors such as Orkin (1970), Casselman (1995), and Thay (2004). Barber, as editor of the Canadian Oxford Dictionary (2004), is in the position to provide a more thorough look at Canadian English vocabulary than most authors of similar publications. Only in Canada, for instance, provides the most complete published word list of present-day (English) Canadianisms outside of dictionary sources. But what exactly is in that list? What exactly is a Canadianism?
New Englishes in a New World: A Brief Introduction to Canadian English
When discussing English, it is no longer possible to consider British English as the only acceptable standard. We have to take into account American, Canadian or Australian English as well as the numerous other varieties. Despite the fact they are considered to be essentially the same language by both native and non–native speakers, there are numerous differences between the innumerable varieties of English currently being used around the world. This study focuses on the Canadian English variety. Should it be considered a New or an Old English? The diversity of Canadian English has been analysed through its grammatical structures, syntax and vocabulary. There are numerous differences not only when compared to traditionally recognised standards such as British English and American English but also within the territory of Canada itself, with it being influenced by various phenomena such as immigration and colonization. Canadian English is a variety full of linguistic forms that are not only related to the local contexts but are under continual evolution.
The study of Canadian English (CanE) has undergone phases of considerable activity in the 20th century and must today be considered a field in its own right. The purpose of this overview is to present the research on CanE from a diachronic, and, wherever possible, real-time perspective. Given the lack of a consistent historical research tradition in CanE linguistics, the present chapter aims to link real-time studies of CanE with the most relevant apparent-time approaches. The following pages are intended as a spring board to CanE for those approaching it from a historical and sociohistorical linguistic perspective.