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Rosen explores the language of the Canadian Shift

trevor.kenney — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 16:30:40 +0000

The easy way to pick a Canadian out of a crowd is to ask them to say "out and about" – a phrase that stereotypically 'outs' a Canuck 'about' as quickly as astronaut Col. Chris Hadfield could tweet from the International Space Station.

Because of our unique way of speaking, and no matter how hard we try to hide it, experts and non-experts alike hear the inflections: Out becomes 'oot' and 'about' becomes 'aboot' – the vowels are changed to alter the sound of the word.

Linguists call this 'raising', and it means that these particular vowels are pronounced higher in the mouth than in other dialects of English.

But there's also a lesser-known way to tell a Canadian apart from other English-speaking people, and it is an important process to take note of because it may fundamentally change how words are pronounced over the next 50 years.

The process, called 'vowel shift' in linguistics, happens all over the world in a variety of ways, but it is named the "Canadian Shift" for the uniquely Canadian direction of the vowel changes.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge linguistics expert Dr. Nicole Rosen describes it as the way that people shift vowel sounds in words that cause them to be altered ever so slightly.

"For example, 'milk' becomes 'melk'; 'bag' might sound like 'beg,'" says Rosen.

"Other words can change as well – 'pit' starts to sound like 'pet'; 'pet' sounds like 'pat', and 'pat' starts to resemble 'pot'. The change in pronunciation can actually cause communications challenges, in particular within different generations of people who may feel they know how to pronounce words 'properly' based on how they learned them 50 years ago. It is definitely a generational evolution which we have to keep up with."

Rosen, a member of the U of L's Language, Identity and Assessment research group, studies endangered languages such as the Manitoba Metis' Michif language, the differences in speakers of western Canadian English, and the differences in speech patterns between members of the Latter Day Saint churches (Mormons) and non-Mormons.

She says the shift in vowel pronunciation isn't a dramatic event, but a gradual and barely perceptible change that happens over generations.

"We no longer speak Old English, which has become a completely separate language," says Rosen, a fluently bilingual (French) former Manitoba resident. "Parents or grandparents today might give their kids and grandkids a hard time for their so-called 'sloppy pronunciation,' when in fact they are changing the language by using it – it is inevitable, and not something you can 'fix' or 'undo'."

Rosen will be presenting her work at a conference in Paris, France, later this summer. The Language, Identity and Assessment research group recently hosted a conference at the U of L on language and gender.

Looking deep into space

trevor.kenney — Wed, 02 May 2012 22:29:26 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge will host the first and only SPIRE (Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver) consortium meeting to be held in Canada on May 3-4 in Banff, Alta.

SPIRE is a dishwasher-sized case loaded with technology created by U of L researchers and designed and built by an international consortium of space agencies, universities and research institutes. It is one of three instruments on the Herschel space telescope, which was launched in 2009 and is orbiting 1.5 million km from the earth.

As the lead Canadian researcher for the Canadian Space Agency's contribution to the Herschel Space Observatory, U of L researcher Dr. David Naylor (physics and astronomy) has played a key role in the development of SPIRE.

Dr. David Naylor will welcome 50 esteemed researchers to the first SPIRE consortium meeting.

Functioning at a chilly -270C, SPIRE observes the universe at very long wavelengths, those well beyond the limit of human vision. Radiation emitted at these wavelengths is able to travel relatively unimpeded through even the densest regions of space, allowing astronomers to view back in time to the formation of the first galaxies.

Recent discoveries from Herschel are showing the far reaches of space in greater detail than ever before, including what the formation of our solar system must have looked like at its early stages: a violent, comet-laden disk of debris where thousands of 1 km-wide chunks of ice collide and spin around a young star.

More than 50 researchers from around the world will gather to update their colleagues on the Herschel mission, share data and discuss the outcomes of their research to date.

Dr. Steve MacLean, president of the Canadian Space Agency and former astronaut, will give the opening address.

For more information about the research team and the Banff meeting, visit research.uleth.ca/spire

Sighting schedule for space shuttle

trevor.kenney — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 22:25:17 +0000

The current NASA Space Shuttle Mission (STS-127), carrying Canadian astronaut and 2005 U of L Honorary Degree recipient Dr. Julie Payette, will be visible in the night sky at specific times during July and parts of August.

The Space Shuttle is delivering people, supplies and lab components to the International Space Station.

View the sighting calendar for Lethbridge at this website:
http://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/cities/view.cgi?country=Canada&region=Alberta&city=Lethbridge

Payette joins fellow astronaut Robert Thirsk in space, marking the first time two Canadians have been in space at the same time. Thirsk is currently on board the International Space Station. A video featuring the docking process, hatch opening and welcome ceremony is available at this NASA website: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Breaking.html.

Payette is a professional engineer with a BSc in Electrical engineering and a MSc in Computer engineering. Among many awards and honours, she is a Member of the Ordre des Ingénieurs du Québec and an appointed member of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada (NSERC). An accomplished musician, she plays piano, sang with the Montreal orchestra Chamber Choir and speaks several languages.

UNews - astronaut

Rosen explores the language of the Canadian Shift

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Looking deep into space

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Sighting schedule for space shuttle

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