Read the text and decide if the statements are true, false or not stated.
Canadian English
Canadian English is one of the state languages in Canada. Outside the territory of Quebec, where French dominates, it is a native language for about seventy-five per cent of the population. Linguists explain specific features of Canadian English by the country’s location close to the United States and the influence of the French and old Indian cultures. The first reference to the term “Canadian English” was registered in the 19th century, but its formation began earlier. After the American Revolution, many people who rejected independence left American colonies and were given land in Canada. The influence of American and British English grew stronger with every further wave of immigration to Canada. The Canadians claim that their variant is cardinally different from the rest, but in other parts of the world, it is associated more with American English. On the whole, it sounds more like American but the Canadians do not simplify classical language forms as the Americans do. At the same time, Canadian English bears some distinctive features of the language spoken in the United Kingdom. For example, the dialect in the Atlantic provinces reminds the dialects of Scottish and Irish fishermen. In Canadian English, the words ‘‘runners” and “holiday” are as common as in British English. Though they never use the Past Perfect Continuous tense, such details like "centre" or "colour" give out the British roots of Canadian English. Phonetics is one of the most evident peculiarities of Canadian English. There is a famous stereotype about it that says it uses “eh” at the end of every phrase. “Eh” can express any emotion or replace a tag question.
Another typical feature is saying “out and about” as “oot and aboot”. Unlike in American English, word stress is often shifted to the beginning. The standard Canadian is officially used by most educated people; it can be heard on TV or radios. Written forms, which tend to look more British, appear in the press. At the same time, every newspaper in Canada has its own spelling norms. Canadian dialects are many and some of them are hard to understand because of considerable vocabulary differences. Katherine Barber, the former editor of the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, has collected many examples of native words and phrases. For example, words like “butter tarts” and “toque” denote national food and a knitted hat. The popularity of hockey in Canada also brought several sports metaphors into everyday speech. The first dictionaries of Canadian English appeared in Toronto in the 1960s. Many secondary schools in Canada use these dictionaries up to now. Later editions include more examples of colloquial expressions and short articles that explain their origin. Modern linguists have an excellent opportunity to discover Canadian English in the multicultural community.

• Группы
  • TRUE
  • FALSE
  • NOT STATED
• Варианты
  • French was introduced in Canada before English.
  • British English borrowed lexical and spelling rules from Canadian English.
  • The word "eh" is a pronoun.
  • Many people moved from America to Canada for political reasons.
  • Canadian English and American English are NOT absolutely the same.
  • Katherine Barber graduated from Oxford University.
  • All Canadian words in newspaper texts are written in the same way.
  • Schoolchildren in Canada consult Canadian English dictionaries at language classes.