What pops into your head when you think of English dialects? Are you imagining British English, American English, and Australian English? There’s a variety that often gets overlooked: Canadian English!
Canadian English is the North American dialect spoken in Canada, and it has features of both British and American English. There are also dialects within Canada, and many of them have been shaped by Indigenous local languages, European languages, and even other dialects of English. For example, the Canadian English spoken in Newfoundland has influences from Ireland and Scotland!
Here are some of the ways that Canadian English is unique. 🍁
Canadian English spelling
Canada has close history and ties to the United Kingdom, and as a result it has retained much of British spelling—but you’ll also find some American spellings, too!
| Canadian and British English | American equivalent | Canadian and American English | British equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|
| colour | color | organize | organise |
| theatre | theater | encyclopedia | encyclopædia |
| cheque | check | analyze | analyse |
Canadian English pronunciation
Similar to its spelling, Canadian English pronunciation has features of both British and American dialects. Let’s take a listen!
Here are some words that have retained a more British pronunciation:
- pasta
- progress
- band
But other pronunciations are uniquely Canadian. For example, out is pronounced differently in Canadian English than in other dialects—which means that in Canada, out and owl aren’t pronounced the same!
In the word out, the “ou” sound is produced higher in the mouth than standard American or British varieties. This is known as Canadian raising—the extra raising of the tongue—and is a hallmark of standard Canadian English.
But in Canada, owl isn’t pronounced the same way: That extra raising of the tongue to make the “ou” sounds (written as “ow” in owl) sound only happens before the consonant sounds “p,” “t,” “k,” “s,” “sh,” “f,” and “th” (a group called voiceless consonants).
Canadian English vocabulary
As with spelling and pronunciation, Canadian English shares vocabulary with both British and American English. One example is the word zed meaning the letter “z” (versus zee in the U.S.).
Canadian English also has words that are distinctly Canadian!
| Canadian and British English | American equivalent |
|---|---|
| washroom | bathroom/restroom (American)
WC/loo/lavatory (British) |
| loonie | a CAD$1 coin |
| toonie | a CAD$2 coin |
| chesterfield | couch, sofa |
| all-dressed | fully-loaded, all the toppings on a pizza or sandwich, etc. |
| bachelor apartment | single-room apartment |
| garburator | garbage disposal |
| tuque | beanie |
| eh? | a sentence-final word meaning “right?” or “no?” |
And let’s not forget words that originated in Canada from Indigenous origins. You’ll hear a lot of these words in other English dialects, too!
- chipmunk(a small rodent related to squirrels)
- igloo(a dwelling made of ice and snow)
- kayak(a narrow boat with pointy ends)
- toboggan(a type of sled that curls up on one side)
- caribou(a species of deer with large antlers)
Expand your English!
Canadian English is a dialect all its own 🍁 Now you can recognize its unique pronunciations, vocabulary, and spellings. Not bad, eh?