At coffee time in southern Alberta, you might eat a bismarck. In Winnipeg, it might be a jam buster and in Ontario, a jelly doughnut.
But bismarcks, jambusters and jelly doughnuts all describe the same thing.
That’s one example of differing words in regional dialect that Nicole Rosen is studying. The University of Lethbridge modern languages professor is looking for rural volunteers to help her understand the southern Alberta accent and dialect.
As native of Winnipeg, Rosen said she noticed speech differences when she moved to southern Alberta in 2004. Pronunciation of certain words like egg and car differed. And there’s a wealth of difference surrounding pronunciation of Calgary, ranging from pronunciation of all three syllables to placing the accent on the middle syllable.
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Rosen is particularly interested in rural and urban dialect differences and she has found little previous research on the topic.
“One of the reasons I went to grad school was to start looking at language on the Prairies, but especially I’m interested in rural versus urban because nobody’s really looked at the way rural people talk, which is different from the way city people talk.
“People can usually tell ‘oh yes, so and so is from the country and so and so is from the city,’ but they don’t really know why they can tell. It’s hard to put your finger on it.”
The practical application of her research might help eliminate judgments about people based on the way they speak.
“There’s a real judgment about how people speak, when actually it isn’t based on being smart or dumb. It’s based on where you grew up.
“It has nothing to do with how smart you are. That’s something that’s really hard for people to understand,” said Rosen.
An influence unique to southern Alberta lies with the Mormon religion. Members of that religion moved to the region from the United States and elements of the U.S. dialect remain in southern Alberta use. That influences pronunciation of words such as about, which may sound more American in origin.
Rosen is looking for about 125 southern Alberta volunteers to participate in her study, especially rural people who have remained in the region.
“To get a better picture of what a dialect is in a certain area, we look for people who haven’t moved around very much,” said Rosen.
Participation involves a conversation and the reading of a written passage and word list. It takes about one hour and a $15 honorarium is offered. Rosen can be contacted by e-mail at Nicole.rosen@uleth.ca or by phone at 403-329-5122.
SOUTHERN ALBERTA DIALECT
When it comes to dialect, Canadians in general have a few unique words and expressions. Here are some definitions excerpted from How To Be A Canadian, by Will Ferguson and Ian Ferguson.
Pogey: unemployment insurance
Mickey: a small bottle of booze
Beer parlour: like an ice cream parlour, but for Canadians
Muskeg: boggy swampland or swampy bogland
Duplex: single building divided in half with two sets of inhabitants, each trying to pretend the other doesn’t exist
Deke: to fool an opponent through skillful misdirection
Chinook: an unseasonably warm wind that comes over the Rockies, melting snowbanks in Calgary, but just missing Edmonton, much to the pleasure of Calgarians
Snuck: to have sneaked
Ghost car: an unmarked police car, easily identifiable by its inconspicuousness
Stanfields: men’s underwear, especially Grandpa-style
Tuque: Canada’s official national head apparel, with about the same suave sex appeal as a pair of Stanfields
