B. A. Major Thesis Supervisor: Mgr. Jan Chovanec, Ph

3.6 Canadianisms

Among Canadianisms adopted from aboriginal languages there are Algonquian Indian muskeg, pemmican, toboggan or totem or Eskimo igloo, mukluk or kayak (Orkin 66, 89, 90, 93). I start with this small note on originally aboriginal words because of their importance: some of them have enriched the vocabularies of many languages in the world.

Even though Orkin (1970: 69-70) suggests that Canadians “are not prolific coiners of words, being content for the most part to borrow American and British English expressions,” he also finds some expressions being “not without occasional sparks of wit as in Bennet buggy and remittance man”. The other coinages include McIntosh Red, York boat, Newfie or splake (Orkin 1970: 69).

Apart from the terms included in the above-mentioned headings of Lovell’s classification (save the second heading), more ‘English language’ Canadianisms can be presented, for instance hydro standing for ‘hydro-electric’, grid road, cat train (Orkin 1970: 67-68), chuck race, corduroy road, separate school (Dean 1963: 279), as well as more recent terms contained in Boberg’s (2005: 48) report, namely bank machine and washroom.

It is pleasing that at least certain awareness of the distinct CanE exists in the world, which is evident e.g. in Hana Rebeková’s phrase book. Although the book is entitled Americká angličtina: Praktická příručka pro konverzaci v USA a Kanadě [American English: A Practical phrase book for conversation in the USA and Canada], which actually leads the readers to suppose that there is no difference between the language spoken in the two countries, Rebeková (2002: 14) remarks that washroom is a Canadianism. She does the same in the case of loonie or twonie¹⁸ (2002: 44).

Expressions bushed or snow shovel are also distinctively Canadian (Dean 1963: 281). To this list can be added “timbits¹⁹, which are little round donuts one can buy at Tim Hortons, a Canadian coffee shop” (Jurcic 2003a: 2).

Furthermore, many sport (esp. hockey) expressions, such as blue line or faceoff (Orkin 1970: 68), and a considerable number of political terms originated in Canada. Where the British or American term did not fit or could not represent the Canadian reality, a new word was coined, namely Clear Grit, Confederation (Dean 1963: 279), M.P.P., acclamation, endorsation, Socred, mountie and many others (Orkin 1970: 67, 69).

I would like to conclude this ‘Canadian section’ arguing that there are enough words peculiar to Canada which make the vocabulary distinct enough from both United States and Britain. Moreover, in view of the constant development of any living language, the development of new expressions which would reflect new realities of contemporary Canadian society can be predicted.

4. Grammar

The number of CanE – AmE – BrE variations on the grammatical level is not as high as, for instance, on the lexical one. Besides, quite a few grammatical features correspond to AmE. The main variations concern prepositional phrases, verbs and adverbials. Certain grammatical phenomena, though, are unique to Canada.

4.1 Prepositional Variations

A Canadian, likewise an American, opts for ‘on Blank Street’ instead of British ‘in Blank Street’, he takes his ‘first vacation in two years’, unlike a Briton who takes his ‘first holiday for two years’, a Canadian uses due to instead of owing to and claims that ‘there is nothing to it’, the phrase likely to be modified to ‘there is nothing in it’ by a Briton²⁰ (Orkin 1970: 154-155).

American influence manifests itself also in the preposition to being preferred in an idiomatic expression sick to the stomach instead of sick at the stomach – formerly “the standard English [i.e. British] form”²¹ – although Orkin (1970: 153) noted that the phrase with at was prevailing in the area west of Toronto. Besides, in some Canadian writings, Christopher Dean (1963: 281) noticed an Americanism name for where a Briton would normally use name after, and an expression wave at them where BrE uses wave to. Finally, all of the people (AmE) is preferred over the British all the people (Orkin 1970: 155).

The influence of AmE on CanE is uncontested. Nevertheless, the examples of ‘there is nothing to it’ and ‘sick to the stomach’ Americanisms which have become fully naturalized in BrE illustrate the fact that CanE, likewise the other varieties of English, ‘goes with the tide’ in allowing AmE to affect it, which is not the same as to claim that CanE is being Americanized to the extent that would imply the identification of CanE and AmE.

Nevertheless, there exists a construction which has evolved in and around Toronto, as Chambers notes, independently of AmE: young people use an expression ’cep’fer which can occur in sentences such as

I can usually put them to bed at twenty to seven, ’cep’fer she’s learning to tell time now (1987, qtd. in Chambers 1991b: 292, italics adjusted).
’Cep’fer is a form of except for - traditionally only a preposition but in sentences like the one above, it functions as a complementizer²² (Chambers 1991b: 292). Although its occurrence is rather local, Chambers (1991b: 292-293) suggests that “it will continue to spread [...] until it becomes common enough that it occurs in writing”. It may be another instance of a prepositional Canadianism.

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