Reading Task #3

Akinori Watanabe
The Summary of Chapter 3, “Some Inland Enclaves” of “Canadian English”


According to the author, J.K.Chambers of the book (Methuen Publications, 1975), There are three inland dialects in Canada, such as Montreal dialect, Ottawa one and The Red River one, forming popular dialects there. They are mixed with other languages and dialects to comprise Canadian distinct English variation.
Firstly, as for Montreal dialect, Montrealers speaking English also use French as second language, so English there is somewhat influenced by French. Furthermore, Montreal dialect is closer to American English than British English, which is a considerable characteristic, and Montrealers often prefer to use American terms compared to British terms. Hence, it can be said that English in Montreal is affected by American English greatly both in vocabulary and usage.
Secondly, talking of Ottawa dialect, it is very distinctive and Ottawa was very remote to other places before, so the dialect developed differently from others. Because of settlers, Ottawa dialect was influenced by Irish, Scottish and Yankee. Therefore, Ottawa one can be called as Anglo-Irish dialect.
Thirdly, Speaking of the Red River dialect, it was dominated by French and other languages, such as native ones, especially Cree language. Consequently, the Red River dialect is an English dialect mainly mixed with Cree language, composing one inland dialect.
In conclusion, overviewing this chapter, these three inland dialects have developed differently each other, forming popular ones existing even now, attractive to linguists so as to investigate. Hence, they are valuable and worthwhile to sift more and needed to be studied further in the future.