Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T18:45:18.352Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Academic and public attitudes to the notion of ‘standard’ Canadian English

On Standard Canadian English, those who speak it, those who study it, and those who discuss it

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2011

Stefan Dollinger
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

This paper reflects on ‘standards’ in Canadian English in scholarly research and the public debate about English in Canada from a number of viewpoints. The goals of these reflections are three-fold. First, I aim to characterize the chasm between scholarly and public debates about a language ‘standard’ in Canadian English (CanE). While this debate is not new (e.g. Kretzschmar, 2009: 1–5 for a recent example), its application in the Canadian context is a desideratum. Second, I aim to characterize the standard in CanE from a demographic point of view: what is this standard and, above all, which Canadians (and, more importantly, how many) presently speak it? And third, what can linguists who research Canadian English offer to the public, and how can the perceived gap in knowledge be bridged?

Type
Original Article
Information
English Today , Volume 27 , Issue 4 , December 2011 , pp. 3 - 9
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Avis, W. S. 1973. ‘The English language in Canada.’ In Sebeok, T. (ed.), Current Trends in Linguistics. Vol. 10/1. The Hague: Mouton, pp. 40–74.Google Scholar
Boberg, C. 2010. The English Language in Canada: Status, History and Comparative Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CBC Online Forum. 2008. Online at <http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2008/10/02/canadian-oxford.html> (Accessed July 5, 2009).+(Accessed+July+5,+2009).>Google Scholar
Chambers, J. K. 1986. ‘Three kinds of standard in Canadian English.’ In Lougheed, W. C. (ed.), In Search of the Standard in Canadian English. Kingston, Ontario: Queen's University, pp. 1–19.Google Scholar
Chambers, J. K. 1998. ‘English: Canadian varieties.’ In Edwards, J. (ed.), Language in Canada. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 252–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chambers, J. K. 2009. Sociolinguistic Theory. 3rd, revised ed.Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Chambers, J. K. & Hardwick, M. F. 1986. ‘Comparative sociolinguistics of a sound change in Canadian English.’ English World-Wide, 7, 124–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, S. 2010. Newfoundland and Labrador English [Dialects of English]. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Clarke, S. (ed.). 1993. Focus on Canada. Amsterdam: Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clyne, M. (ed.). 1992. Pluricentric Languages: Differing Norms in Different Nations. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Dollinger, S. 2008. New-Dialect Formation in Canada. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dollinger, S. 2009. ‘The canary in the coalmine?’ Newsletter of the Dictionary Society of North America, 32(2), 1&3. Online at <http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/dsna/DSNANFall08.pdf> (Accessed January 30, 2009).+(Accessed+January+30,+2009).>Google Scholar
Dollinger, S. 2011. ‘The “Groundhog Day Loop” in Canadian English.’ Strathy Unit Language Blog, period of April/May 2011. 1200 words, 14 April 2011. Online at <http://www.queensu.ca/strathy/Blog.html> (Accessed August 16, 2011).+(Accessed+August+16,+2011).>Google Scholar
Dollinger, S. In press. ‘Emerging standards in the colonies: prescriptivism, variation and the (elusive) lower-class writer.’ In Auer, A., Schreier, D. & Watts, R. J. (eds), Letters, Language and Change in English: Witnessing Sociolinguistic Histories. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Dollinger, S. & Percy, C. 2009. ‘The “standard” in scholarly research and in public debate: thoughts on present-day Canadian English.’ International Prescriptivism(e) & Patriotism(e) Conference: Language Norms and Identities from Nationalism to Globalization. University of Toronto, 19 Aug. 2009.Google Scholar
Fee, M. & McAlpine, J.2 2007 [11997]. Guide to Canadian English Usage. 2nd ed.Toronto: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gregg, R. J. 1993. ‘Canadian English lexicography.’ In Clarke, S. (ed.), Focus on Canada. Amsterdam: Benjamins, pp. 27–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jenkins, J. 2009. World Englishes: A Students' Guide. 2nd ed.New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kachru, B. 1985. ‘Standards, codification and sociolinguistic realism: the English language in the Outer Circle.’ In Quirk, R. & Widdowson, H. G. (eds.), English in the World: Teaching and Learning of Language and Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 11–36.Google Scholar
Kretzschmar, W. A. Jr. 2008 [2004]. ‘Standard American English pronunciation.’ In Schneider, E. W. (ed.), Varieties of English. Vol. 2: The Americas and the Caribbean. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 37–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kretzschmar, W. A. Jr. 2009. The Linguistics of Speech. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lilles, J. 2000. ‘The myth of Canadian English.’ English Today, 16(2), 3–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lougheed, W. C. (ed.). 1986. In Search of the Standard in Canadian English [Strathy Language Unit Occasional Papers 1]. Kingston, Ontario: Queen's University.Google Scholar
Parvin, V. E. 1965. Authorization of Textbooks for the Schools of Ontario. 1846–1950. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Percy, C. 2009. School Supply List, Paradise Hill School in Saskatchewan's NorthWest School Board. Online at <http://www.nwsd.ca/Supply%20Lists/School_Class_Supply_Lists/Paradise%20Hill.pdf> (Accessed September 6, 2011). (Accessed September 6, 2011).' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Percy,+C.2009.+School+Supply+List,+Paradise+Hill+School+in+Saskatchewan's+NorthWest+School+Board.+Online+at++(Accessed+September+6,+2011).>Google Scholar
Pratt, T. K. 1993. ‘The hobgoblin of Canadian English spelling.’ In Clarke, S. (ed.), Focus on Canada. Amsterdam: Benjamins, pp. 45–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, R. 2007. The Globe and Mail (Toronto), December 20, 2007, R1.Google Scholar
Statistics Canada. 2008. ‘Place of work and commuting to work.’ Catalogue number: 97-564-XCB2006010. (Release date: December 9, 2008.) 20 April 2011.Google Scholar
Strevens, P. 1985. ‘Standards and the Standard language.’ English Today, 1(2), 5–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutherland, F. 2000. ‘Sprightly muddles and errors.’ English Today, 16(4), 19–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trudgill, P. & Hannah, J. 2002. International English. A guide to varieties of Standard English. 4th ed.London: Arnold.Google Scholar
Upward, C. 2000. ‘Canadian spelling choices.’ English Today, 16(4), 20–1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watts, R. & Trudgill, P. (eds) 2002. Alternative Histories of English. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Widdowson, H. G. 1994. ‘The ownership of English.’ TESOL Quarterly, 28(2), 377–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar