Tuesday, October 27, 2009

All Aboot Language

I said in my opener about this blog that it was going to be about random things, not just work-related.  Today's random thought is about my "accent".  I haven't been living in Canada for that long now (a little over 3 months), but I'm pronouncing words differently.  Sure, some of them are because every single person around me does, and so I'm just accomodating so I don't sound funny.  Like "pro-cess" instead of "praw-cess".  That's on purpose.

But the strangest is that I've noticed that I'm starting to pronounce "out" differently too.  Not "oo-t" like American's are fond of imitating incorrectly.  Candians don't say that.  They say "ou-t", as if they're pronouncing the O and U.  Americans say "ow-t".  My change is subtle, but I noticed it because I wasn't trying in any way to modify that word.  It's half-way between the way I used to say it and the way Candians say it.  Candians would still identify me an American.  But American's would think I'm saying it a little funny.

Strange what language does, eh?

2 comments:

  1. My Canadian friend, who moved to the US, has commented often how much I sound like a 'farmer from the valley'....

    whaddya think, dem d'er? Iz d'at what I soond like, eh?

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  2. Wait until you lose the ability to make the letter "a" in the middle of a word sound like "o" and instead take on the short "a" sound. Examples: Java, Mazda, Pasta

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