Canadian English

Canadian English
RegionCanada
Native speakers
19.4 million in Canada (2011 census)[1]
about 15 million, c. 7 million of which with French as the L1
Latin (English alphabet)
Unified English Braille[2]
Language codes
ISO 639-3
GlottologNone
IETFen-CA[3][4]
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Canadian English is the type of English that is used by Canadians.[5] It is like American English in terms of vocabulary, but its grammar is like that of British English.[6]

Canadian English is generally taught in schools using British ways of spelling, such as colour, flavour, and so on. However, the word themselves are usually American, in part because Canadians watch a lot of American TV shows and listen to a lot of American pop music. Rarely, the British form of words may be replaced with American forms, such as plow, program, and so on.[6]

The main exception to this rule is terms related to cars and the auto industry. Because Canada's auto industry has always been dominated by American firms, Canadians use American words and spelling for such terms.[7] Canadians and Americans spell the outer rubber portion of a wheel as tire instead of tyre, put gasoline or gas in their vehicles instead of petrol, store items in the trunk instead of the boot, and may drive a truck instead of a lorry.

Canadian English is different from other forms of English in its spoken form also. The dialects vary from sounding overtly English to an indistinguishable form very similar to those spoken in the northern states.[6]

  1. English (Canada) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. "History of Braille (UEB)". Braille Literacy Canada. 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  3. "English". IANA language subtag registry. 16 October 2005. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  4. "Canada". IANA language subtag registry. 16 October 2005. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  5. "Canadian English". www.ic.arizona.edu. Archived from the original on 2013-03-24. Retrieved 2009-03-26.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Canadian English". www.ic.arizona.edu. Archived from the original on 2012-05-04. Retrieved 2009-03-26.
  7. Oxford Press and Katherine Barber (2001). The Canadian Oxford Dictionary. Toronto, Ontario: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-541731-3.

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