It goes without saying that accents around Canada differ as do accents around the United States or England. But the following rules are more or less universal across Canada and are primarily what distinguish the Canadian accent from the American accent.
It is hoped that Canadian recording artists will retain their Canadian accents in their music; there is no reason why they shouldn’t.
Rules of Thumb
1. or is always pronounced like ‘or’ (ɔr), never like an ‘ar’ (ɑr). This includes the words sorry, horrible, tomorrow, borrow, foreign, sorrow, and orange. Many Americans tend to pronounce ‘or’ the same as ‘ar’.
2. The o in hot is pronounced exactly the same as the aw in raw (‘ɒ’). There is a tendency among many Americans to pronounce hot’s o as an a. In Canada, caught and cot, don and dawn, stock and stalk, etc. are pronounced exactly the same. We’re not having a haliday; we’re having a holiday.
3. The o in mom is pronounced exactly the same as the o in mother and in son.
4. The ou in house is pronounced differently than the ow in down. In house, the ou is pronounced ‘ʌu’, and the ow ‘au’. Many Americans mistakenly think that the ‘ʌu’ pronunciation is unique to Canadians. In truth, this is the Irish pronunciation.
5. shone rhymes with gone and shown rhymes with bone. This is true among all English-speaking countries in the world except the United States, which dares to be different.
6. The i in like is pronounced differently than in ride. Like’s i is pronounced ‘əi’, while ride‘s is pronounced ‘ai’.
7. life does not sound like laugh. The i in life is pronounced ‘əi’, while the a in laugh is pronounced ‘æ’. There is a tendency among many Americans to pronounce them the same and say time like ‘tam’, light like ‘lat’, fire like ‘far’, etc.
8. pen and pin are pronounced differently. The first is ‘pen’ and the second is ‘pɪn’.
9. Mary, merry, and marry, are all pronounced exactly the same, rhyming with berry.
10. feel and fill are pronounced differently. The first is ‘fi:l’ and the second is ‘fɪl’.
11. been is usually pronounced as it is spelled, occasionally like bin. The latter pronunciation is more common among Americans.
12. The i in semi, anti, and multi is pronounced like an ee, not like the letter i.
13. In the words adult, pianist, composite, and comparable, the accent is on the first syllable.
14. In the word advertisement, the accent is on the second syllable, not the third.
15. Canadians never put an ee sound before the letter a. There is a tendency in some Americans to say Cee-anada, hee-am (ham), etc.
16. vase rhymes with gauze, not with chase.
17. The syr in syrup rhymes with cheer not with stir.
18. asphalt sounds like ASH-fault.
19. The a in bath and pasta is pronounced the same as in bat.
20. route and root are pronounced the same, and the oo in roof is the same as in root. In all these words the vowel sound is the same as the oo in boot.
21. bother rhymes with father.
22. Aunt is pronounced the same as ant.
23. because sounds like bee-KUZZ.
24. Envelope is pronounced as it is spelled, not like “onvelope”.
25. In the word often, the t is usually pronounced.
