News about the Strathy Language Unit and Canadian English studies
Westmount
Date: May 11, 2026 | Category: Guest Column
Author: Jade Lemieux
In this new series for the blog, Jade Lemieux introduces us to English-speaking communities in Québec.
While Montreal is well-known as the largest Francophone city in the Americas, most people do not know that the Island of Montreal is not actually a single city but contains a few different enclaved municipalities. Therefore, if you find yourself driving across the island and notice a specific shift in the style and architecture of the environment, you might have just crossed into a different municipality. Furthermore, if you look at road signage and start seeing English “Stop” signs, instead of the usual “Arrêt” signs used throughout the rest of Québec, then you know you are now in Westmount.
As its name suggests, Westmount lies on the western flank of Mount Royal (the largest mountain on the island and important landmark), and it is recognized as an independent municipality with its own city council and government. Just like the wider region of Montreal, ascribed as one of the “bilingual capitals of the world,” a large portion of Westmount’s population speaks both French and English. More interestingly, however, 67.8% of its 20,350 residents record English as their main language spoken, with 48.7% of the population noting English as their mother tongue. Westmount, therefore, has been known for most of its history as the “Anglophone enclave” of Montreal.
Literary Map of Toronto
Date: April 21, 2026 | Category: News
Explore Toronto through literature with our new map plotting literary references to the city. Click on a pin to read a quote related to the area. Thanks to former Strathy intern Josh Bernier-Taylor for initiating the project. Do you have a quotation from a fictional work set in Toronto that you would like to suggest? Send it to strathy@queensu.ca.
Nigerian Canadian English
Date: April 20, 2026 | Category: In the Media
"Dialects ... shape identity – it's a marker of who you are and what community you're from."
- (CBC, April 19, 2026)
EPIP 9 Conference
Date: April 16, 2026 | Category: News
Strathy Director Anastasia Riehl presented a talk about pronunciations in the new Canadian English Dictionary at the conference English Pronunciation Issues and Practices in Manchester, England.
Toronto Slang?
Date: March 29, 2026 | Category: In the Media
What was intended to be a light-hearted conversation about Toronto slang on late-night television has turned into a controversy over authenticity and appropriation.
- (Toronto Life, March 26)
- (HOLR, March 27)
Jack Chambers (1938-2026)
Date: March 10, 2026 | Category: News
With sadness for his loss and appreciation for his groundbreaking contributions to the field of Canadian English, .
Defining Identity
Date: Feb. 5, 2026 | Category: In the Media
"The development of a new Canadian English dictionary is consistent with our persistent yearning to convince ourselves we are distinct as a nation ..."
- (Seaway News, Feb. 19, 2026)
Hockey Jargon
Date: Feb. 5, 2026 | Category: In the Media
Don't take your eyes off the biscuit! With the winter Olympics underway, it's a great opportunity to brush up on your hockey terminology.
- (CNN, Feb. 5, 2026)
Spelling as Identity
Date: Jan. 23, 2026 | Category: In the Media
"Much of our Canadian newspaper spelling style can be explained by a tendency to adopt British spelling instead of American, but it’s not quite as simple as that ... There is such a thing as Canadian English, and it’s not merely an adoption of British over American spelling."
- (The Western Producer, Jan. 20, 2026)
Canadian AI
Date: Jan. 18, 2026 | Category: In the Media
"Today’s most powerful LLMs are built by American companies, trained largely on material that’s weighted toward American English, and fed giant snapshots of the public web that are also dominated by American interests ... Canada’s national voice could begin to disappear from the machines that will increasingly mediate everyday life. That will reduce and drain linguistic variety and other uniquely Canadian cultural elements."
- (Calgary Herald, Jan. 17, 2026)
North Words
Date: Jan. 16, 2026 | Category: In the Media
Strathy Director Anastasia Riehl discusses the Canadian English Dictionary, linguistics and endangered languages .
Defining Canada with Canadianisms
Date: Jan. 12, 2026 | Category: In the Media
"During these times when we need to hang on tight to our identity like a tuque during a soaker, there are real linguistic warriors hard at work to scientifically determine what makes a word Canadian."
- (Globe and Mail, Jan. 12, 2026)
Slopification
Date: Jan. 10, 2026 | Category: In the Media
We are clearly overrun by "low-quality, high-quantity content, most typically produced by generative AI", given that 'slop' has been selected yet again for 2025 Word of the Year, this time by the . “Slop isn’t a new word. It has moved from the pig sty, to the algorithm, and now forms new compounds such as sloppunk, slopification, and friend slop ... This productivity has no end in sight.”
More on Maplewashing
Date: Jan. 1, 2026 | Category: In the Media
Updated: Jan. 10, 2026
Strathy researcher Emma Ferrett talks with and about Canada's Word of the Year and the Canadian English Dictionary.