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Canadian English

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Canadian English

Presentation (Pre-University), 1995, 14 Pages
Author: Antje Matthäus
Subject: English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics

Details

Event: Seminar Canadian Language
Institution/College: Martin Luther University
Tags: Canadian, English, Seminar, Canadian, Language

Category: Presentation (Pre-University)
Year: 1995
Pages: 14
Grade: Morphology
Language: English

Archive No.: V103329
ISBN (E-book): 978-3-640-01707-2

File size: 102 KB

Fulltext (computer-generated)

Seminar:

Canada - Language and Society

Presentation by

Antje Matthäus

Morphology and Syntax of the English Language in Canada

Martin-Luther-Universität
Halle-Wittenberg
WS 1995/96

Content

I. Introduction ...3

II. Survey Analysis ...4

2.1. British English vs. American English ...4

2.1.1. How to read the tables ...5

2.2 Older vs. Modern Variants ...6

2.3 Formal vs. Informal or Standard vs. Non Standard Variants ...6

2.4 ,,eh" ...7

2.5. Surviving vs. Disappearing Variants ...8

III. Conclusion ...9

IV. Bibliography ...10

4.1. Primary Literature ...10

4.2. Secondary Literature ...10

4.3. Dictionaries ...10

V. Appendix ...11

Map 1: Canadian English

I. Introduction

Morphology is the study of the morphemes - the smallest meaningful unit into which a word can be divided - and how they are combined to make words. Syntax we call the rules for the arrangements of words into phrases, sentences and texts. Unlike in the fields of vocabulary or pronunciation, in these areas we cannot find distinctive Canadian patterns of word or text formation if we compare them to British or American English. Small differences to either variety exist - in those cases, however, these do conform to the other variety. As Millard puts it:

,,The morphology and syntax of Canadian English is for all practical purposes identical to that of American English. At least some Canadians follow British practice..." ¹ Görlach says: ,,Morphology is ... identical in British and American English. There are no features that could count as Canadianisms. The same is true in the field of syntax." ²

This becomes plausible if we look at the settlement history and Canada′s relations to Great Britain and the United States. According to the ,,loyalist theory" those ,,Americans" who backed the British in the American Revolution left the county for England, the West Indies or Canada. The latter settled in the area of today′s Ontario. ^{Appendix: Map 1}

They had a great influence on the development of modern Canada, and their speech became the basis for what today we call General Canadian - the speech of the urban middle class ³. Canada is also a member state of the Commonwealth which is still headed by the Queen of England. The use British English was for a long time, and at some places still is today, associated with higher education and social status. It is also a means of NOT sounding American. On the other hand, at Canadian schools and universities many American grammar- and textbooks, dictionaries etc. are used, and Canada is very much exposed to American television- and radioprograms and the American print media. ,,Until recently most of the books Canadians read were American or British, and the grammar and spelling reflect that." ⁴

The following paper is an analysis of the part of the Survey of Canadian English that is concerned with morphology and syntax. The methods I used do not conform with those of a statistician since neither did I have all the necessary information to do that nor am I trained well enough in the field of statistics. Nevertheless, I am certain that the results will give the reader a general idea of the English spoken in Canada. One can also draw conclusions on the direction of the development of English spoken in Canada.

II. Survey Analysis

The Survey of Canadian English was conducted in 1972 among native-born teenage students and their parents from all provinces. It concentrated on spoken English. Besides questions that were aimed at vocabulary and pronunciation, people were asked to report on the usage of certain grammatical features. I tried to arrange the 27 questions concerning morphology and syntax in the following groups for easier interpretation. One has to note, though, that the first four groups are overlapping, a clear distinction cannot be made.

- British English vs. American English
- older vs. modern variants
- standard vs. nonstandard (formal vs. informal) forms
- disappearing vs. surviving forms
- ,,eh"

Please note, too, that this analysis does not include all examples from the survey concerning morphology and syntax. The results from that grouping are summarized in tables. Since the grouping was done on a somewhat subjective level, the results have to be seen as rough tendencies. The numbers are not suitable to make exact quantitative statements. For that purpose the original survey has to be consulted.

2.1. British English vs. American English

When I mark the following forms as British or American, one has to consider that, of course, not every Briton or every American uses the respective forms. The marks just represent general inclinations.

He dived into the pool. (BE) Overall, about one half of the population is using the American

He dove into the pool. (AE) and the other half the British past tense form of dive. This is valid for all provinces. Male students and parents tend to use the American variety slightly more often than their female counterparts.

It is really hot in here. (BE) About 50% of the older and 40% of the younger generation uses the
It is real hot in here. (AE) British form. Of those who prefer the American variant the proportion of students (25%) is slightly higher than that of the parents (20%). Therefore, a higher percentage among the students uses both forms compared to the parents. In both generations females use the British form slightly more often than males. There are no big differences between the provinces.

sick at the/my stomach and In general 70-80% of the Canadians say sick to my/the stomach. There are
sick in the/my stomach hardly any discrepancies between the generations; females slightly
(rather BE) outnumber males in the usage of the American variant. An exception is sick to the/my stomach Newfoundland. While stomach sick is hardly used in the other provinces, (rather AE) here 50-60% of the older and 60-70% of the younger generation reported stomach sick this variant. It is followed by the American variant; the British one is here used only by about 10% of each age group.

a quarter to, till, before six (BE) 90% and more of the people questioned prefer the British way a quarter

a quarter of six (AE) to six of telling the time. The figures for the students and females are even slightly higher than for parents and males respectively.

behind the house (BE) Overall, about ¾ of the population use the British variant, females of both
back/in back of the house (AE) generations slightly more so than males. However, in the Eastern provinces including Quebec (except P.E.I.), fewer people than the country′s average use the British form, with Quebec scoring lowest. In the western provinces the usage of behind the house is slightly higher than the country′s average. Students tend to use the British form more often than their parents, except in Quebec where this tendency is reversed.

different to and Two thirds of the Canadians prefer than to from except in Newfoundland,

different from (BE) where the distribution of these two prepositions is about 50:50. Hardly

different than (AE) anyone uses to. Students and males say different than slightly more often than parents and females respectively.

visit (rather BE) In general, 70 - 80% of the questioned subjects use the British variant.

visit with (rather AE) Male parents and female students do that slightly more often than female parents and male students.

Overall, younger people stick to BE more often than the older generation.

It looks as if he′ll go. (BE) Here the distribution is as follows: male parents 40% BE : 60% AE

It looks like he′ll go. (esp. AE) female parents 55% BE : 45 % AE and students 25% BE : 75% AE, with male students having an only slightly higher percentage in AE. This is valid for all provinces.

past tense and past participle Snuck as past tense and participle form of sneaked is only recorded in of sneak: Webster′s and there as chiefly dialectal.

sneaked (BE) For the parent′s generation the country′s average use of snuck is 30%

snuck (AE) (60% sneaked). In the eastern provinces incl. Quebec, though, 15 - 25%

say snuck while in the western part about 40% do so. In general, male parents use the American form slightly more often than female parents. Among the students the differences between the provinces have disappeared, about two thirds use snuck, girls slightly more often than boys. This is true for all provinces except Newfoundland where the distribution is as follows: boys 40% (BE) : 40% (AE); girls: 60% (BE) : 25% (AE). The remaining use both form. The group which uses both forms is among the younger people bigger than among older people.

2.1.1. How to read the tables:

The answers to the nine above questions are summarized in the following table. Only when 50% or more of the population (male and female parents, male and female students are together 4 populations) uses the British or American variant in each province they get a point. In the table all points are summed up. Since we had 9 questions each cell can contain a maximum of 9 points (BE+AE). Since quite often there was no majority for either variant because some people said they use both or neither form, there are often less than 9 points in each cell. In å (vertical) the points are summed up and we get a rough idea whether each population uses more British or more American variants. The figures do not represent an exact quantitative distribution. We should see them rather as representing a relation. In Æ the average for each generation is calculated, again the numbers should be read as a representation of general relations. In å (horizontal) the figures for each province are summed up, and again we can see only, which variety people generally prefer. In these cells BE+AE should sum up to 36, when the figure is smaller than that it is because for some questions there was no majority for either variant. It is a sign of changes in language (maybe also indifference) when the figures there are fairly below 36. In å (vertical) they should sum up to 90 in each row. Smaller numbers indicate lacking majorities, i.e. ongoing changes in the language or indifference.

_NFLD

_P.E.I.

_N.S.

_N.B.

_QUE.

_ONT.

_MAN.

_SASK

_ALTA

_B.C.

_å

_Æ

_{male parents}

_{BE
AE}

_{5
1}

_{5
4}

_{6
3}

_{5
4}

_{4
3}

_{3
4}

_{5
4}

_{47
34}

_{BE
52}

_{female parents}

_{BE
AE}

_{7
1}

_{7
2}

_{6
3}

_{6
2}

_{6
3}

_{5
4}

_{5
3}

_{4
5}

_{58
27}

_{AE
30}

_{male students}

_{BE
AE}

_{3
3}

_{4
4}

_{3
5}

_{4
5}

_{3
5}

_{3
4}

_{4
4}

_{3
4}

_{3
5}

_{33
44}

_{BE
36}

_{female students}

_{BE
AE}

_{5
2}

_{4
4}

_{3
4}

_{4
4}

_{4
5}

_{4
4}

_{4
5}

_{40
41}

_{AE
42}

_å

_{BE
AE}

_{20
7}

_{20
14}

_{17
16}

_{19
14}

_{19
16}

_{18
16}

_{17
14}

_{17
15}

_{15
15}

_{16
19}

2.2. Older vs. Modern Variants

past tense of climb 95-100% of the Canadians questioned use the modern version. Only
clumb (older - o) male student have a slightly lower score (96%) than the other three
climbed (modern - m) groups (98%) in the country′s average.

between you and I (o) Of the parents 50% say I and 40% me; of the students only 30% say I and
between you and me (m) 60% me in this context. The remaining use both forms. Overall, males use I slightly more often than females. Me after is was for a long condemned, and many people were afraid of using it at all. Since this is not the case anymore, I marked between you and I as the older form.

The table is analog to the one about BE and AE. The figures here are 20 for å (vertical) and 8 for å (horizontal).

_NFLD

_P.E.I.

_N.S.

_N.B.

_QUE.

_ONT.

_MAN.

_SASK

_ALTA

_B.C.

_å

_Æ

_{male parents}

_{O
M}

_{0
1}

_{1
1}

_{0
1}

_{1
1}

_{8
10}

_{O
6.5}

_{female parents}

_{O
M}

_{1
1}

_{0
1}

_{5
10}

_{M
10}

_{male students}

_{O
M}

_{0
2}

_{0
20}

_{O
0}

_{female students}

_{O
M}

_{0
2}

_{0
20}

_{M
20}

_å

_{O
M}

_{1
6}

_{2
6}

_{1
6}

_{0
6}

_{1
6}

2.3. Formal vs. Informal or Standard vs. Non Standard Variants

past participle of to drink In this case 60% of the Canadians use the standard form while 40%
has drunk (standard - s) prefer the non standard version. The percentage of females using
has drank (non standard - ns) has drunk is slightly higher than that of males. There are no big differences the generations or provinces.

He wants to go out. (s) In Newfoundland about 90% of the parents and 85% of the students
He wants out. (ns) say He wants to go out. In all the other provinces only about 60% of the parent′s generation use the standard form, 20% the non standard form and 20% use both variants. Mothers use the standard form slightly more often. Of the students even fewer (50%) stick to the standard, 25% say He wants out. and 25% use both.

I am worn out (s) Overall, 70 - 80% of the questioned use the standard variety, females a
I am wore out (ns) little more than males and older a little more than younger. A higher percentage of the younger generation uses both variants than in the older generation. There are also some differences between the provinces, but they are not too striking.

If he were here, Both sentences are grammatically correct, but it is preferable to use if +
things would improve. (s) was in predictable situations and if + were in imaginary situations (n If I
If he was here, were you ...). I would call the example an imaginary situation and there-
things would improve. (ns) fore marked if + were as standard.

The survey showed that the older generation preferred were and the younger was in this example. The distribution was a follows: fathers 60% s : 30% ns : 10% both, mothers 50% s : 40% ns : 10% both, boys 33% s : 44% ns : 22 both, girls 40 s : 42 ns : 18 both. The differences between the provinces were not too striking.

The table is analog to the one about BE and AE. The figures here are 40 for å (vertical) and 16 for å (horizontal).

_NFLD

_P.E.I.

_N.S.

_N.B.

_QUE.

_ONT.

_MAN.

_SASK

_ALTA

_B.C.

_å

_Æ

_{male parents}

_{S
NS}

_{2
1}

_{3
1
1}

_{3
1}

_{2
1}

_{3
1}

_{2
1}

_{3
1}

_{24
10}

_{S
28}

_{female parents}

_{S
NS}

_{3
1}

_{4
0}

_{3
1}

_{4
0}

_{32
8}

_{NS
9}

_{male students}

_{S
NS}

_{2
1}

_{1
1}

_{3
1}

_{1
1}

_{2
1}

_{1
1}

_{14
10}

_{S
14}

_{female students}

_{S
NS}

_{2
1}

_{1
1}

_{3
0}

_{1
1}

_{15
9}

_{NS
9}

_å

_{S
NS}

_{9
4}

_{8
4}

_{11
4}

_{8
4}

_{11
2}

_{7
4}

_{8
4}

_{7
4}

_{9
3}

2.4. ,,eh"

If you want a friend to repeat This question was answered with ,,no" by ¾ of the population, females

something you didn′t hear did so a little more often than males. About ¼ admitted the usage of eh

clearly, do you ask him to do when asking for repetition. There were no big differences between the

by saying eh? provinces.

Do you use the expression: Of the parents 20% said they would use a sentence as in the example,

So that′s what he thinks, eh? 40% do not use it and another 40% said they would use it sometimes.

Men apply it slightly more often than women. Among the younger informants only 25% said they would use eh in that sense, as many said they do not use it. 50% of the students admitted to use it sometimes. Generally girls answered ,,yes" slightly more often than boys.

The table is analog to the one about BE and AE. The figures here are 20 for å (vertical) and 8 for å (horizontal).

_NFLD

_P.E.I.

_N.S.

_N.B.

_QUE.

_ONT.

_MAN.

_SASK

_ALTA

_B.C.

_å

_Æ

_{male parents}

_{YESNO
no}

_{0
1}

_{0
10}

_{Y
0
0}

_{female parents}

_YESNO

_{0
1}

_{0
10}

_{NO
10}

_{male students}

_YESNO

_{2
0}

_{1
0}

_{2
0}

_{1
0}

_{2
0}

_{1
0}

_{16
0}

_{Y
12}

_{female students}

_YESNO

_{2
0}

_{1
0}

_{2
0}

_{19
0}

_{NO
0}

_å

_YESNO

_{4
2}

_{2
2}

_{4
2}

_{3
2}

_{4
2}

_{3
2}

2.5. Surviving vs. Disappearing Variants

The following three examples would probably fit into any of the first three categories, but they have also one feature in common. In earlier stages of the development of the English language both variants of every form were necessary because their meaning was slightly different. Now linguists observe, that one variant is disappearing and the surviving one either takes over the meaning of this one or it is not needed anymore and gets lost.

toward (surviving - sur.) In the left column are the entries for towards and
mainly AE toward from Muret-Sanders from 1910. In modern

I. preposition 1. gegen (=towards);

II. adjective dictionaries we find these words a synonyms.

The 2. (familiär od. veraltet) kommend, nahe, in shorter one has probably taken over all meanings.
Bereitschaft, bei der Hand, 3. geneigt, bereit, In Canada it is used as follows: 50% of the parents
lenksam, willig, gelehrig and the students use towards, toward is used by 40%
towards (disappearing - dis.) of the parents and 30% of the students. In the younger
mainly BE generation 20% (parents 10%) use both variants.

I. preposition 1. Richtung: gegen, nach, zu,
auf ... zu, 2. in Rücksicht auf, betreffend,
3. gegen, für, zum Zwecke von, 4. Zeit: gegen
ungefähr, fast; II. (veraltet) adjective 5.= toward 2.

Who did you see at the party? (sur.) The transition as obviously already occurred in Canada.

Whom did you see at the party? (dis.) Of the parents 70 - 80% use the first variant, of the

Linguist predict that whom will eventually be students 80 - 90% do so. Fathers and girls apply it
lost since it is already very uncommon in spoken slightly more often than mothers and boys.
English.

The dictionary describes usage as follows:

who = object of a verb in interrogatives (infml.)

subject of a verb in interrogatives (fml.)

whom = object of a verb in interrogatives (fml.)

It was laying on the floor. (sur.) The people who answered the question have lying not

It was lying on the floor. (dis.) given up yet. 60% of the male and 70% of the female

lie (lying) lay lain parents use lying, 30% and 20% respectively say laying.
intransitive = used without an object 10% each use both versions. Of the students only 55%
lay (laying) laid laid use lying, 25% use laying and 20% reported to use
transitive = used with an object both variants.
The two are frequently confused. There is also
the verb to lie (lying) lied lied = to tell falsehood.
The homophones lying and lying have very
different meanings, and in certain constructions the
meaning can be ambiguous. (n He was lying in his
room.) To avoid ambiguity people use laying for
lying and ignore tr-itr. division in favor of semantic
clarity. Lying might be totally replaced by laying
one time.

The table is analog to the one about BE and AE. The figures here are 30 for å (vertical) and 12 for å (horizontal).

_NFLD

_P.E.I.

_N.S.

_N.B.

_QUE.

_ONT.

_MAN.

_SASK

_ALTA

_B.C.

_å

_Æ

_{male parents}

_{dis.
sur.}

_{1
1}

_{2
1}

_{1
1}

_{2
1}

_{17
10}

_{dis.
15}

_{female parents}

_{dis.
sur.}

_{1
1}

_{2
1}

_{1
1}

_{2
1}

_{12
10}

_{sur.
10}

_{male students}

_{dis.
sur.}

_{2
1}

_{1
1}

_{2
1}

_{0
1}

_{2
1}

_{1
1}

_{0
1}

_{2
1}

_{13
10}

_{dis.
13}

_{female students}

_{dis.
sur.}

_{1
1}

_{2
1}

_{1
1}

_{2
1}

_{1
1}

_{2
1}

_{0
1}

_{2
1}

_{14
10}

_{sur.
10}

_å

_{dis.
sur.}

_{5
4}

_{4
4}

_{7
4}

_{4
4}

_{8
4}

_{7
4}

_{5
4}

_{6
4}

_{2
4}

_{8
4}

III. Conclusion

As the examples show, morphology and syntax of English spoken in Canada is a mixture of British and American variants with neither dominating. There are regional, age and gender differences, but we cannot say that the older generation prefers BE to AE, the eastern regions speak more modern than the westerns or that girls prefer the standard variant more than boys.

In the following I am going to show the general tendencies that can be inferred from the tables.

Among the parent′s generation the British English variants of the examples from the test are more often used than the American ones, by mothers even a little more often than by fathers. Students seem about to switch to the American variants, it is already dominating but only slightly. Boys appear to be somewhat faster than girls in this process. Due to the fairly high usage of BE by the parents the figures of the individual provinces indicate a slightly dominating usage of BE, except for Newfoundland where BE is used a lot more often than AE. It is also interesting to look at the numbers of British Columbia - the only state that has a higher figure for AE than for BE.

If we look at the older - modern version opposition, we can see the transition to the newer forms; parents still report in some cases a dominating usage of older forms, although altogether a greater part of them prefers modern ones. The majority of the students, though, does not use the old forms anymore. This is the case in all provinces.

In the category standard - non standard the standard versions are preferred in both generations but more so by the older one and also more by females. Quebec appears to be the province with the highest proportion of people using the standard variants.

The Canadian ,,eh" - it must be a recent invention since only students of all provinces reported to use it a lot, twice as much as their parents and girls quite a bit more than boys.

In Canada we find evidence for the disappearance of one variant of a word or phrase that used to have (or still has) two. The older - or that variant that is supposed to disappear according to Sapir′s theory of drift to the ,,invariable word" - is used by the older generation slightly more often than by the younger, but the so called ,,surviving variant", which is also not always grammatically correct according to present grammar books, is used even less by both generations.

The English spoken in Canada is a mixture of British and American English, older and modern variants, standard and non standard forms. It is a language in a process of change as any living tongue. Morphology and Syntax used by Canadians is not specifically Canadian, but the combination and the frequencies of all these various forms makes up a language that can be given a name of its own - Canadian English.

IV. Bibliography

4.1. Primary Literature

Extracts from The Survey of Canadian English 1972

4.2. Secondary Literature

M. Görlach: ,,The Identity of Canadian English" in Varieties of English, Amsterdam/Philadelphia (1991)

W.S. Avis: ,,Canadian English", Essay from the first edition of the Dictionary of Canadian English: The Senior Dictionary, (1967)

C.M. Millard: A Biography of the English Language, Boston (1989)

R. McCrum, W. Cran, R. MacNeil: ,,Canadian English" in The Story of English, New York (1986)

4.3. Dictionaries

Advanced Learners Dictionary; Oxford University Press, Oxford (1989)

Webster′s New Encyclopedic Dictionary; Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers Inc., New York (1993)

Webster′s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language; dilithium Press Ltd., New York (1994)