The Stressed Vowel Phonemes of a New Brunswick Idiolect and Central/Prairie Canadian English

Abstract

Although scholars of Canadian English have established the phonemes which are typical for most of Ontario and the Prairie Provinces, little comparison has been made with other parts of Canada. To begin the process of determining if these phonemes are also typical of Canadian English east of Ontario, this preliminary study compares the phonemes established for Ontario and the Prairie Provinces with those of an idiolect from Harvey Station, New Brunswick. This paper also briefly considers evidence of Canadian raising in the idiolect. While the phonemes are remarkably similar, some phonemic differences do distinguish this idiolect from that of Ontario and the Prairie Provinces.