Why do Canadians speak American accent?

Why do Canadians speak American accent when they claim their country a British overseas territory and use British spelling(colour, grey, centre, honour etc)?

Austalians and New Zealanders speak more like British though.

It's called 'geography.'

Or put another way, why do Stations speak with a Canadian accent?

Canada was colonized about the same time as the USA; this coupled with their proximity to one another leads to similar accents. Because New Zealand and Australia were colonized at about the same time (coupled with their proximity to one another) leads to their similar accents. The reason the Australian and New Zealand accents are so similar to English English is due to the fact that they were colonized later than the US. Think of a family tree, US/Canadian English split earlier than Australian/New Zealand English.

Canadians don't use an American accent, only the ones living in the US (like Pamela Anderson or Avril Lavigne) do.

A combination of Canadian raising and Canadian Vowel Shift can ''unmask'' a Canadian:


the girl here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piYFEAJMsy0
pronounces 'responding' with a rounded /Q/ vowel: like '''raspawnding'', something not many Americans would do.

Americans normally pronounce DOLL, DOLLAR with an unrounded vowel /A/, Canadians use the rounded vowel here /Q/.

Gues, I think the person is talking about the similarieites. Most native speakers can tell that there are some differences.

<<the girl here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piYFEAJMsy0
pronounces 'responding' with a rounded /Q/ vowel: like '''raspawnding'', something not many Americans would do.>>

I'm American and I say "responding" exactly the same way she does and so does everyone else who lives here. So you can't always use that as a way of identifying a Canadian.

The main thing here is that English dialects in Canada aside from Newfoundland English dialects are part of the greater North American English dialect continuum. Furthermore, such dialects are largely descended from dialects spoken in western New England prior to the American War of Independence, like most dialects spoken throughout the northern US and, due to internal immigration, the western US. Hence they are very close genetically to General American to begin with, even without any influence from dialects in the US being taken into account.

Longman pronouncing dictionary does not list Valley Girl, Pittsburghese or Bostonian dialects, thus no /Q/ in ''responding''. General American pronunciation is that with /A/, and in the traditional Western US variant too.
No dictionary lists /Q/ as the normal pronunciation in ''respond, responding'', it's always /A/. Oxford Canadian dictionary has /Q/ in ''respond, responding'' tho', which means rounded raised vowel in ''respond''/Q/ (or even /O/) is not a mainstream feature of American English, but it is of Canadian English.

The dishy hunk of a barman we have in one of my favourite city centre pubs has a North American accent which he tells us he has toned down somewhat .....deliberately. He came to Edinburgh from Thunder Bay in Ontario, Canada.

We're not entirely sure about his reasons for moderating his accent but as he has been living here in Edinburgh for about four and a half years now I reckon our local accent - which he positively drools over - has rubbed off on him a wee bit, and as he will be entering into a civil partnership with a local lad in August he is making some kind of effort to be an honorary Scotsman. :-) He already uses many of our local expressions and maybe he his now rolling his Rs just a shade rather than rhoticising them.

Anyway, as most people who don't know him, and many don't when they first meet him as the pub is an extremely busy and popular one, would assume he that he is an American, as the vast majority of Brits have no idea on earth what the differences are between a Canadian and an American accent.

I say "would assume", as he always sports a red maple leaf badge attached to his tops just ensure that people realise his nationality.

There's a stereotypical Canadian accent that people talk about, "aboot", etc. probably descending from the Scottish accents that do that hole "oot" thing. (Groundskeeper Willy singing "Doon Toon").

But, for the most part, they sound like Americans. Canadians try desperately, desperately hard to separate themselves from the US, so that's how you get their overemphasis on non-existent aspects of unique Canadian culture. Unfortunately, Canada is pretty much like America except for the part that speaks French, but that's some different country anyway.

Oh yeah, and America = the United States. Only. Whoever gets offended over that is a total homo.

I think the /Q/ is more widespread among those who have the Canadian Shift. In the Atlantic Provinces, it seems that most native English speakers use /A/. From what I have seen and heard, people in parts of Manitoba seem to be partial to /Q/, but again, you will find /A/ in a number of speakers from older generations. If I recall, a good number of people in Toronto and Ottawa also use /A/, but again, that depends considerably upon their age and whether or not they have the shift.

It seems to me that certain features of both United States English and Canadian English are not limited to their respective borders. You will find a handful of Central and Western Canadians who use [bIn] or [bEn] for been, and another handful that lack Canadian Raising entirely. On the same note, many Northern, Western, and even a handful of Southern United States natives have rather strong examples of Canadian Raising. I do not think you will find very many (if any) Canadians who participate in the Northern Cities Vowel Shift or Southern Vowel Shift, but there are a few (mostly older) Canadians here and there that do not have the complete low-back merger.

With all of this said, I agree that you cannot identify a Canadian based on the use of /Q/ in certain words. Newfoundland and Ottawa Valley dialects are a different story, as you can certainly identify them, and say to yourself: "yes, this speaker is from Canada."

'' I agree that you cannot identify a Canadian based on the use of /Q/ in certain words. ''

I disagree, Q in dollar and doll is very indicative of a Canadian accent.
99% of Canadians have /Q/ in dollar, doll; only 1 % (mostly those from Windsor and Atlantic Canada) have /A/

99% of American have /A/ in dollar, doll; only 1 % (some Valley Girls and an occasional Bostonian/Pittsburgh person) have /Q/ in those words

Listen to this Canadian VJ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6R6zwjxP6U&feature=related

She has the most horrible Valley girl accent I've ever heard
That confirms my statement that Canadian English sounds like a San Fernando Valley girl living in Ottawa Valley.

She still says "about" like a Canadian.

For some reason, young urban women (a couple of my friends from Houston, especially) tend to adopt this accent for one reason or another despite the stigma associated with it.