Do most of the canadians have british accent or american accent?

Question

I am talking abpout the majority.
I guess there is something called a canadian accent too.

However I want to know that what percent of canadians (not immigrants) talk with british accent and what percent of them talk with american accent approximately.

Absolutely I'm talking about those canadians who speak english not french.

It wuld be better if you can provide any source for ur answer too.

Answer 1

I am an American who lives in Toronto Canada. Canada is a land of immigrants. So while it is true that some Canadians have an American accent and some Canadians have a British accent, Canada does have its own unique accent.

I watch a lot of British television on the BBC cable channel. While the British accent can be detected in most of their words, the Canadian accent is only evident in certain words such as when they pronounce "ou". Also, many Canadians end phrases and questions with "eh". I hear it both on the streets and on Canadian television and radio here in Toronto.

I've been told by Canadians that they can tell I'm American because of my accent. However, I can't detect my own accent probably because I'm so used to it.

According to the 2001 Canadian Census:
- there are approximately 30 million people living in Canada.
- there are approximately 6 million British living in Canada.
- there are approximately 11.5 million Canadians living in Canada.
- there are approximately 250 thousand Americans living in Canada.
- there are approximately 18.5 million immigrants living in Canada.

So 20% of the Canadian population is British, 38% of the Canadian population is Canadian, and less that 1% of the Canadian population is American. As for determing how many of these British, Canadians and Americans speak with an accent, that information is not available. But it can't be more than the above percentages.

My reference is the source link I posted below.

Answer 2

hah hah that is so funny. Of course Canadians have a Canadian accent. Its not the same as a British Accent. The only Canadians that have a French accent are French Canadians from Quebec. English Canadians have an English Canadian accent. Comparing it to a British Accent is like comparing a Texan accent to a New Yorker.

Answer 3

First, you must be asking whether Canadians SPEAK like the British or the Americans not HAVE a British or American accent; HAVE strips away our identity by suggesting that Canada cannot have it’s own accent: As a Canadian I find that insulting.
Second - assuming you meant speak – Canadians have more than one accent (much like the Stats do) and how one speaks varies through regions and cultures. Generally speaking, First Nations, Inuit people, French speaking Quebecois, French speaking Métis (Manitoba French/First Nation descendants), and People from the East Coast have unique accents. Most other people in Canada (unless you want to talk about numbers of immigrants and numbers of accents) have what I believe you refer to as the “American accent”. Only British immigrants have British accents in Canada.

What sort of sources were you looking for?

If you see the movie Fargo, that’s a Neufie (short for Newfoundland) accent (or the best example I can think of right now).

We do say “eh” a lot, but so do many of my American friends.


Adding to the questions:

You question is impossible to answer accurately. For that, not only would you need an up to date census report (easy enough to get) but it would also be necessary for the census report to add a question about the person’s accent.
The best answer is that you can assume people who immigrate to Canada from Britain have a British accent and all people born in Canada in either B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, or Ontario, have a Canadian accent. Of course this formula still doesn’t account for cultural variation and only partially accounts for regional variation.
Rather than doing this research for you, I have a better idea: Check out the International Dialects of English Accents reference on Canada.
http://web.ku.edu/idea/northamerica/canada/canada.htm

Answer 4

The "British" accent is actually composed of 20 separate "accents" - in addition to the "standard" accent - that are officially included in the listing for the United Kingdom. Basically, the written form (which is pretty much the same wherever you look) has degenerated into regional dialects where pronunciation differs dramatically due to the influx of other ethnic backgrounds and the relative lack of communication with other population centers (for wahtever reason) over the intervening centuries. For example, a "british" accent could be any of the following: Queen's English, Received Pronunciation (the "standard"), Estuary, Cockney (or East London), East Anglian, East Midlands, West Midlands, West Country, Northern, Lancashire dialect and accent, Yorkshire, Scouse (Liverpool), Mackem (Sunderland), Geordie (Tyneside), Scottish (Glaswegian), Scottish (Highland), Welsh, Manx, Mid Ulster, Hiberno-English (Ireland), Guernsey English.

In comparison, the US has what is known as "American" English, with at least 17 versions, in addition to "standard" American. These include: Midwestern (Northern and Inland Northern dialects), Midwestern (North Central), Midwestern (North Midlands), Eastern New England, Bostonian, New York, New Jersey, Northern Pennsylvania, Philadelphian/Delawarian, Pittsburgh, Buffaloan, South Midland, New Orleans, Acadiana, Central/South Florida, Western, and Californian.

Comparatively, Canada is linguistically consistent across, the country, but it too has at least 13 discrete cases that fall under the "Canadian accent" heading. For example: Newfoundland (the outports and Labrador), Newfoundland (the city of St John's and the Avalon peninsula), Cape Breton, Maritime (including English/Irish settlers and British Loyalist descendants in NS, NB, and PEI), Maritime (including the French settlers and Acadian descendants in NS, and NB), Quebec (Gaspe), Quebec (North Shore), Quebec (Montreal), Ontario (Northern), Ontario (Southern), Western and Central (which include BC, AB, SK, MB, and western ON), Yukon and Northwest Territory, and Nunavut (which has the highest percentage of native population).

For the most part - the accents of the northern and eastern US are similar to those of eastern Canada and southern Ontario; all the regions are based loosely on the "british" accents of East Anglian, Scottish (Glaswegian), Scottish (Highland), Hiberno-English (Ireland), Queen's English, and Received Pronunciation.

The percentage of Canadians that speak "American" is relatively low (maybe 2 or 3 percent); the percentage that speaks "british" is about the same. Both are entirely due to immigration.

Answer 5

We have a Canadian accent..it's similar to the American but not quite the same. Like America, you have different accents all over the country, and so do we. Some parts of Canada, for instance New Foundland, you would probably find it hard to understand what they were saying their accents are so broad.

Answer 6

I live just across the boarder in Detroit. Most Canadians speak with a Canadian accent. It's sounds almost like American with a Canadian twang, if you ever saw the movie Fargo it's pretty much like that and the say eigh (pronounced "A") alot. I have been to quite a few places and have never heard a native born Canadian speak with a British accent.

P.S. This is kind of strange but Exotic Dancers come down from Montreal all the time to Windsor and can't speak a word of English but were born in Canada.

It's kind of funny really, one minute you in Detroit where everybody speaks with an American accent and the next minute you across the boarder and there's an entirely different accent.

Hope dat clears it up fer ya eigh. (kinda like that)

Answer 7

Canadians speak with their own accent, which is most prevalent in how we pronounce our vowels. But, in my opinion, it's closer to an American accent as opposed to a British accent - even if we do spell words like the Brits.

Answer 8

There are regional accents, ranging from virtually American (some places out west) to virtually Scottish (northern Nova Scotia).

Many of the regular Canadian variants remind me more of Scottish than English, but are still much more North American than not.

Newfoundland has its own range of accents, with both Irish and old English influences.

and of course French Canadians have their own ranges: Quebec and Canadians are both based on older forms of north-coast French, but with their own variations.

Answer 9

Canadians have neither a British or American accent. Ours tend to be regional, according to the area we are from. Canadians have an accent uniquely ours.

Answer 10

canadians have a canadian accent
canada is not the states or britain

of course french canadians speak with a french accent