Careers: Acting, Performing, Directing/Americanization

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Expert: - 1/7/2009


Question
Hi Peter
I have noticed from watching US television that our American cousins use the flat or long A sound (cane,mane,bane,etc) when prouncing a.
Example: there is a house over there.It is a big house.
I have noticed lately that younger Canadians,not so much in person but newsreaders,etc., are doing this,while the older ones still use the soft or short a sound.
I was horrified a few days ago to hear a newsreader in Toronto pronounce roof like ruff not roooof like he should have!
Any comments appreciated!
BTW (ha ha another evolution of the language lol) I am interested in the ongoing evolution of the language.
There was a great show on TV about it-forget what it was called.Not Anti American,I guess its globalisation???
Thanks and happy new year.

Answer
I believe the long "a" comes from basing your Enlish on radio and TV readers and presenters. If you are reading an unfamiliar script, "a" gives you a fraction more time to suss out the sentence ahead before plunging in after the schwa sound of the unstressed article.

'Ruff' and 'rowt' may come from the fact that at least some of the best-known name broadcasters originated in the States, and 'parlament' and 'Pry Minster' are simply from lack of education. Or possibly the current trend against 'elitism'.
Yours in horror

PM

Careers: Acting, Performing, Directing

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Peter Messaline

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This is the place for Canadian answers! My company runs "The Advisors", a Toronto-based career-power network for performers, producers and entertainment artists of all sorts. I am a performer, and I have not had a joe-job in the last thirty-odd years, so I must be doing something right. I can talk about career moves, self-promotion, self-production, and the business sense that turns your art into a living.

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