Introduction
The dialect of mainstream English speakers in Ontario features many of the characteristics defined as "Canadian." This site attempts to highlight several of those features with plenty of examples culled from the speech of the dialect donors who gave their sounds to the International Dialects of English Archive (IDEA).
The samples demonstrating the various features on this website are copyright ©2009 Eric Armstrong. They are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License.
Please note that the voices heard here can also be heard speaking "Comma Gets a Cure" and a brief passage of spontaneous speech in the samples numbered from 9 - 30 on the Ontario page of IDEA. Content from the International Dialects of English Archive (IDEA) are linked with permission.
On that pages that follow, you'll find snippets of recorded sentences and phrases meant to elicit the sounds in question. It must be remembered that these words and sentences are being read, which can have a significant impact on the way a person pronounces a given word or phrase. Context is everything.
The material was recorded by Joe Bucci and John Fleming at York University, funded through the Research at York program, in 2008-09. My thanks to them for their hard work and useful suggestions.
Next: Canadian Raising /aʊ/
Eric Armstrong
Associate Professor
Dept. of Theatre
York University
