Phonological Distinctions Maritimes English Dialects Question and Answer 2022

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Running head: MARITIMES ENGLISH DIALECTS
QUESTION B: PHONOLOGICAL DISTINCTIONS IN MARITIMES ENGLISH DIALECTS
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Summary.
Maritime English speakers, which are people belonging to the Maritimes, namely, New
Brunswick, Prince Edward Islands, and Nova Scotia, are highly aware of their dialectal
differences with the natives and other Canadian inhabitants. These phonetic anomalies have been
traced back to the settlement patterns of immigrants over the past three hundred years. The
geographical differences, coupled with the fact that immigrants generally settled in small and
culturally homogenous groups can be cited as major reasons behind the independently
contrastive features found. Though the French were the first settlers of the region, the British
Empire seized most of the area after the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 and Halifax was consequently
founded in 1749 to combat the French Louisbourg fort and further French influences (Kiefte and
Kay-Raining Bird). During this period there was an influx of colonists seen settling outside
Halifax, along the South and Fundy Shores and Canso, in the farming regions of Nova Scotia
(Kiefte and Kay-Raining Bird). There was also a settlement of Black refugees after 1812, in and
around Halifax, who spoke African American or Caribbean English. However, Cape Breton
received Gaelic-speaking Scottish immigrants, producing a lasting influence on the dialect’s
pronunciation, sentence structure, and word usage. However, standard varieties such as General
American and Canadian English have dominated such local dialects due to the recent influence
of radio and television, and the relocation of the younger population towards the western
provinces for employment and academic reasons and their preference to speak more prestige
dialects. Keeping these sociological factors in mind, this essay speaks particularly about the
dialects found in the regions constituting Nova Scotia, which are, Halifax, Lunenburg, and Cape
Breton. It compares the distinctive phonetic and phonological features noticed in the dialects of

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the said locations among themselves and then with standard Canadian English and attempts to
provide reasons for the same.
Discussion.
The vowels are known to carry the most distinctive dialectal features. In case of the
Halifax dialect, the merged vowel in words like LOT and THOUGHT appear markedly raised
and rounded as /ɔ/ or a rounded variant of /ɒ/ instead of /ɑ/ or the rounded variant /ɒ/ seen in rest
of Canada (Kiefte and Kay-Raining Bird 63-64). It has also been noted that in Canadian
English, /ε/ and /i/ are lowered towards /æ/ and /ε/ and /æ/ attains a low-central position, but is
absent in the traditional dialects. Moreover, the front vowels /æ/ and /ε/ are mostly raised despite
the space created by the low back merger in the vowel space. A second feature of the Halifax
Maritimes dialect as highlighted in the paper is diphthong raising. This is a commonly found
feature in general Canadian English, as exemplified by the authors in the case of the phrase ‘out
and about’, transcribed as [ʌυt n̩ əbʌυt] (Kiefte and Kay-Raining Bird 65). It is stated that the
pronunciation of these diphthongs, albeit present in the Haligonian dialect, undergoes a
diphthong shift in the context of voiced consonants (65) like a retracted diphthong in case of
words like ‘died’ [dɒid] and behind [bihɒind]. From a historical perspective, Haligonian dialect
shared a close connection with the British. The authors stated that the british Garrison’s
dominance of the Halifax Society had significantly influenced the development of the speech
patterns in the region (62). This can be considered instrumental in the way the vowel features
developed in the Maritimes dialect as stated above.
The Lunenberg variety on the other hand has a German influence, which is evident in the
guttural /r/ and the devoicing of the word-final stops (66). One of the key features of the dialect
is the replacement of general English speech segments with influences from German. Some key

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examples as cited by the authors include the substitution of the labiodental continuant [ʋ] with
a /w/, replacement of dental fricatives with a plosive and the use of a velar [ʀ] (uvular trill) in
place of alveolar approximant [ɹ] (Kiefte and Kay-Raining Bird 67). A second feature that is seen
distinctly in the Lunenberg variant is the absolute absence of /r/ in a postvocalic environment.
This makes it sound very similar to the New England variants. Complete absence of
postvocalic /r/ is not a feature that is present in Canadian English and is a feature that is found in
the Lunenberg dialect only (67). Historically, the German influence is specifically responsible
for most of the speech changes in the dialect. The features that are present in the variant and
which differentiates the dialect from the Canadian English share high levels of similarity with
German and Dutch, indicating and strong historical linguistic connection with the two languages.
In contrast with the Haligonian or the Lunenberg dialects, the speech in Cape Breton
share similarities with the islands of Newfoundland primarily because of their geographic
proximity. One distinguishing feature that is found in the speech patterns of Cape Breton is the
fronting of the low back vowels (68). Furthermore, It has also been seen that speakers from Cape
Breton find it difficult to produce certain minimal pairs. Specific examples include words such as
bit and bet, where speakers, instead of pronouncing the minimal pairs distinctly, produce the
same raised version of it, that is [bi̝t] for both the words (68). As the authors highlight, the poor
economic conditions of the place facilitate a seasonal migration between the island and the
provinces in the west (Kiefte and Kay-Raining Bird 68), thus influencing the local dialects
greatly.
Personal response.
Although I was aware of the existence of different dialects and localised speech variants
of English, specifically Canadian English in different regions, I was not completely aware of the

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Maritimes English that has been described in the article. The rich sociolinguistic and historical
background of the development of these language variants resonate the intercultural exchanges
that has happened over time, further supporting the fact that languages are not demarcated by
strict boundaries, but are rather permeable to allow features from each to transpire into the other.
The three Maritimes English variants that I was able to explore in the article has given me
significant insight into the phonological processes and influences of the cultural contact that has
changed it over time.

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Works Cited.
Kiefte, Michael, and Elizabeth Kay-Raining Bird. "Canadian Maritime English." The Lesser-
Known Varieties of English (2010): 59-71.