Maritimer English
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Maritimer English quirks include the removal of pre-consonantal [ɹ] sounds, and a faster speech tempo. It is heavily influenced by both British and Irish English.
An example of typical Maritime English might be the pronunciation of the letter t. The flapping of intervocalic /t/ and /d/ to alveolar tap [ɾ] before reduced vowels, as well as pronouncing it as a glottal stop [ʔ], is less common in the Maritimes. So, battery is pronounced as "bat-try" instead of with a flapped t.
Although dialects vary from region to region, especially based on the rural/ urban divide, there are some other commonalities. For example, there is heavy rhoticism on vowels preceding /r/ sounds. Also, low front vowels seem to be lengthened and sometimes tensed, which in some regions can result in raising, and even a very slight rounding of the higher vowels and dipthongs. These phonetic differences are not all systematic: some lexical items do not apply to these rules, so perhaps it the vowel system is in a process of shift, or there could be interference from other, more urban dialects and the media.
While the stereotypical Canadian interrogative "Eh?" is used more often in the Maritimes than in most dialects in the U.S., it is actually relatively uncommon compared to the Prairies and Ontario. Alternatively, one might hear the interrogative "Right?" which is in turn used as an adverb (e.g.: "It was right foggy today!") as well. "Some" is used as an adverb as well, by some people (e.g.: "This cake is some good!"). Such expressions tend to be widely used in the rural maritimes, but are less common in urban areas.
British terms are very much still a part of Maritime English, although slowly fading away in favour of American or Western terms. "Chesterfield" and "front room" are examples of this. Another example is that especially among the older generation, "wh" is pronounced the British way, as in why, white and which with a "hw" and witch, with, wear as /w/
Cape Breton Island has a distinct dialect due to settlement by speakers of Acadian French and Scottish Gaelic.
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