Talk:Ottawa Valley English

The Accent
I lived in the Ottawa Valley most of my life. Few people from this region talk with the strong dialect that is exemplified in this article. Some people from Newfoundland do but this would make it a Newfoundland dialect. Many of the examples on the list that was removed are common in many areas and the Ottawa Valley cannot fairly take credit for them. For example, "Give'r" can be heard just about everywhere, I heard it in southern Ontario at soccer games. And all of the drunk euphemisms are pretty consistent anywhere in Canada if not further. There are a couple sayings out there that are exclusively Ottawa Valley dialect, I can’t remember any but I wish I could. I confused some people in conversation with them in my first year abroad. I must call into question the “Irish” or “Scottish” origins denoted in the article, a source for this fact would be more convincing or maybe some history of the region. Aroy02 05:38, 27 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Could someone perhaps add examples of how this accent manifests itself? What do you mean exactly by closed-mouthed and slight r-trilling?


 * Take a holiday, go to Pembroke, and start talking to somone, you'll find out, I can't explain it. Use your imagination I guess.


 * The slight "r-trilling" described here is known as the "Rolling-R" or alveolar trill. While I am not a linguist, I take this to mean something similar to the pronunciation of Tim Horton's "R-r-r-r-r-roll up the r-r-r-r-r-rim to win" contests, or to the French word for red, "rouge". While I kept it in the article, I have to wonder as having been born and bred as a lad from the 'Prior and Pakenham, I can't say I have ever heard it, though that is only anecdotal.72.139.59.20 (talk) 01:06, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

Specifying location
--24.200.35.253 05:41, 8 August 2005 (UTC)


 * I was told by a teach I have a slight Ottawa Valley accent, and I have lived east of the canal all my life. I know I speak differently then other regions, but Im not sure of the difference. I would also suggest that it is perhaps stronger in rural areas. -- Earl Andrew - talk 00:03, 17 August 2005 (UTC)


 * I've lived in Petawawa almost me whole life and the "twang" is not related to Ottawa at all and it would rarely be found in Ottawa. This is something you'd find in the Renfrew County area and the rural areas of the Valley.  If you talk to people who were born and raised in the area and still live here you'll notice the accent.  It is really a mixture of French and Irish, it almost sounds like a Newfoundlander accent sometimes (though not nearly as thick and there are no real added words).  I don't really think this is a distinct "twang" or many other rural regions, but it is probably influenced by the close proximity to Quebec where other rural areas aren't as much.

i'm from deep. this is the place where the sign on the water tower is changed yearly from DEEP RIVER to BEER RIVER, and, in the winter, our school parking lot--studend and teacher areas alike--have many more snow-machines (snowmobiles.. thats more twang i suppose) than actual trucks. in my personal experience, the 'twang' is particularily evident among the 'lads' which are a distinct group of individules who enjoy takin' de fourwheeler our in de bush (or the snowmachine), goin' fishin or huntin', as well as cookin up some moose jerky. these lads are a shining example of the ottawa valley twang. remember: if you wana be a lad, you gotta wear plaid.

I grew up just across the county line from Renfrew country (Hastings). This is a dialect that is spoken in the rural areas of the Ottawa valley and like mentioned above the more rural you go, the thicker it becomes. In areas such as Denbigh, Hardwood Lake, Quadeville, Barry's Bay, Pembroke, Killaloe it is quite evident. Having lived within 30 minutes of some of these places, in the rural Hastings Highlands I've got a bit of the twang myself. Although not near as severe as in Renfrew county, and I've shed a bit of it living in the city for the past 6 years.--ProdigalSon 01:30, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

After showing my History teacher this list (he's a big fan of making fun of Ottawa Valley Twang, as we live right in the middle of the Valley (Renfrew), and he spent much of his life in Montreal), I added "In my road", one that people in Renfrew use a lot.

Rockland? That's not the Valley bud, thats Ottawa Area up "derr".


 * Rockland and areas east are part of the "lower valley". Rockland is near the outer limit of the national capital region. Many residents of Rockland work in Ottawa, but many others would reject being lumped in with Ottawa. --70.81.251.32 22:52, 18 September 2007 (UTC)


 * When people talk about "the Valley" they don't mean the lower valley, they mean upper. I've never even heard of the "lower" valley until I read this page, though I suppose with an upper there must be a lower.  Still, I doubt anyone who lives in the "lower" valley would really associate with that name, whereas the people who like in the "upper" valley consider themselves to be residents of "they Valley".  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tomas18 (talk • contribs) 03:35, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

I agree, that there needs to be distinction between the area between Arnprior and Ottawa (including Perth, Carleton Place and Smith Falls and the arear west of Arnprior to Pembroke including Calabogie, Matawatchan, Renfrew, Griffith, Denbiegh, Eganville, Douglas, Cobden, Castleford, Foresters Falls, Haley's Corners, Burnstown and every little burg, hamelt and village in that vicinity that I didn't name. I would beg to differ with some others as the twang is far more pronounced west of Arnprior and east of Pembroke than it is east of Arnprior and people in Ottawa don't have it unless they just moved from the valley.  I grew up in Renfrew and had cousins from Deep River who didn't have the twang.  My family comes from the Barr Line (Foresters Falls) on my mother's side and Matawachan/Black Donald/Griffith on my father's side.  It is far mor pronounced in the area radiating from Mount St. Patrick in all directions and there it is tied into the mix of Irish and Scotish brogues. It is my experience that this differs depending upon who you are talking to becasue evenin Renfrew the twang can be thick with some and barely noticeable with others. I think that is the most interesting thing about the twang. I had it but lost it in University and living away, however my friends say it is clearly present when I go home and return to Alberta. Certainly I think that some of the local colloquialisms that we use are more common amongst us Valley folk than one particular twang. Good luck tying it down to a specific type of brogue or sound. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.213.255.149 (talk) 21:33, 7 March 2013 (UTC)

I live in the Ottawa Valley as well and as far as I'm concerned we do not use the word "eh" as often as people may think... it just seems like clear Canadian stereotyping.

Im also from the valley and i've heard most if not all of these terms and I also use a wide arrangement of them. I don't Quit understand what's wrong with this article or why it should be re-wrote or deleted.... ....and yes, all the different terms about being drunk or intoxicated are used lots...


 * We should be able to specify that the Valley excludes the City. Heading up the line, it would start at the 'prior.  Further south most people would consider Cartoon Place as part of the Valley.  The 'frew is definitely Valley.  Everything north of Algonquin to the river.  How far west? LeadSongDog 20:33, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

Many places South of Ottawa have the same accent, again mostly within the farmer "Lad" subset, such as Kemptville, Winchester, Osgoode Township and Manotick. I have a few suggestions for content - the word "whore" is pronounced "hoor", "miles per hour" becomes "mile an hour", "slut!-hoor" is a common curse, "couldn't pull a dyin' hoor off a piss-pot" is a disparaging remark towards a weak, torqueless engine, "Four paw" for "four wheel drive", "cottager job" or "cottager model" is the weak, non-heavy duty version of power (or other) equipment such as a part-time woodsman might have, a close cousin to the "piss-cutter", and that a true Lad would look at and shake his head while saying, "aww-aww-aww-aww-awwwwwwwww", "poverty pack" is a 12-pack of beer, all beers are "pints", hamburgers are "hamburgs", due to the popularity of hunting deer with hounds, all dogs are referred to as "The Hound", when you crash your car you've "wung'er into the rhubarb" because you didn't "keep 'er between the trees", maybe because you had a few "wobbly-pops" and you were "flying home on one wing". Quebecers are "Frogginese", a jovial, non-hateful epithet, and ironic use of French phrases is highly encouraged.

Removed the common words and phrases
The common words and phrases were getting to be excessive (~80 examples of words and phrases that people in the area use). No examples of them were referenced, and although I know that they are in fact used (being from Bancroft myself). Fact of the matter is they have nothing to do with a dialect of english (which is what the article is actualy about), they are just phrases. Take a look at Cockney rhyming slang which is a far more recognized version of english, with seven common examples. Perhaps an article titled List of phrases used in the Otttawa Valley with cited sources.--Kelapstick 19:13, 31 July 2007 (UTC)

Possible reference?
http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/Local+Shows/Ontario/Ottawa+Morning/ID/2241307122/; http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/pickin-burries-the-ottawa-valley-dialect-1.1230443; http://ogradys.ca/opeongo/ov_expressions.html; https://scienceandstory.wordpress.com/tag/ottawa-valley-twang/; https://www.noslangues-ourlanguages.gc.ca/bien-well/fra-eng/histoirelang-historylang/vallee-valley-eng.html.

Canadian Geographic magazine, Sept/Oct 2005, article on the Ottawa Valley, its people, and 'the twang' Pendragon39 05:21, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

I'll add to this: "The linguistic survey of the Ottawa Valley" http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-1283(198324)58%3A4%3C325%3ATLSOTO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-2 99.236.48.153 14:20, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

Assessment
I have assessed this as a Stub, as it only contains the basic information on the topic, and of low importance, as it is a highly specific topic within Canada. Cheers, CP 03:42, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

The REAL Ottawa Valley ACCENT
I'd just like to point out that I was born in Ottawa, moved to Arnprior (The 'Prior) when I was five, and lived there for most of my life, until I moved to Lanark Village.

Many of the explanations, and terms used in this article, and on this article's talk page are obviously malicious stereotypes. Besides that point, this article should either have two seperate sections, or be two completely different articles, because there is a very distinct difference between an english valley accent, and a french valley accent. You won't find many, if any people in Arnprior using, "d" to substitute, "th". - That is much-more related to the fact that the, "th" sound doesn't really exist in the french language, so they replace it with a, "d" sound when speaking. It is very similar to the french omitting an, "h," in their speech. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 143.166.226.56 (talk) 21:35, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

Re-write
I had a few minutes and rewrote the article to give it a more consistent feel. I also broke the article up into a few sections to improve coherence. Please feel free to modify it as you wish!72.139.59.20 (talk) 01:06, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

Major content removal
People are saying that there are no references and no evidence and that "i never hear that in ottawa" but thats true because this abou thte valley and its not possible for ottawa to be in its own valley. There are news articles, webpages and endless references and linguistic studies for ottawa valley accents. Some are even from the government of canada. : http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/Local+Shows/Ontario/Ottawa+Morning/ID/2241307122/; http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/pickin-burries-the-ottawa-valley-dialect-1.1230443; http://ogradys.ca/opeongo/ov_expressions.html; https://scienceandstory.wordpress.com/tag/ottawa-valley-twang/; https://www.noslangues-ourlanguages.gc.ca/bien-well/fra-eng/histoirelang-historylang/vallee-valley-eng.html. 216.185.86.62 (talk) 16:16, 1 December 2014 (UTC)

The entire article was original research, so I rewrote the entire article with what I could find for reliable sources, the result was about two sentences. There had been cleanup and add references tags since 2007, and I even found a mirror site that had one in 2005. There is a book (or similar) that I see referenced in any additional sources that I found, I think it was actually called "The Ottawa Valley Twang", written by JK Chambers, I believe. Most of the additional sources only said that it is spoken, and has Irish roots. It would be a helpful article for expansion, however I have not been able to find it. --kelapstick (talk) 19:53, 26 August 2009 (UTC)

Well Git R DONE! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.195.71.116 (talk) 21:02, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

Glad to see everyone here managed to turn an interesting, informative and interactive article that Ottawans could especially relate to into a lame and ambiguous 2 paragraph stub. Good job everyone. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.239.201.234 (talk) 04:59, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

Sounds remarkable similar to Irish accents
I have to say the Ottawa valley twang sounds remarkable similar to Irish accents, I don't hear much if any British influence. Sounds like a Irish person who spent a few years in Canada. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 51.37.138.8 (talk) 23:46, 13 November 2019 (UTC)

History
I find the history quite colonial-centred. There was an indigenous presence prior to the arrival of Europeans that I would think would have had some influence on dialect as the Ottawa Valley is one area where peaceful partnership, trade and co-location took place. 192.197.178.2 (talk) 19:50, 1 February 2023 (UTC)