Date:  Wed, 30 Jul 1997 12:37:01 -0400
From:  Jack Chambers <chambers[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CHASS.UTORONTO.CA>
Subject: Canadian "choon"?

Barbara Harris rightly recognizes herself in a Canadian minority in
saying 'choon', 'choozday', and the like. Yod-dropping in Canada is not
far behind yod-dropping in the northeastern States. In the youngest
speakers, it is nearly unanimous. The dialect Topography of the Golden
Horseshoe checked pronunciations with yod in 'student' and 'news' (among
others). The 935 respondents representing a cross -section in this 250km
strip around the western tip of Lake Ontario, where about one-fifth of
the population of Canada live, differed in the percentages of
yod-lessness according to age, as follows:

Age   student   news
  80+   44       59
70-79   58       61
60-69   55       65
50-59   58       67
40-49   72       75
30-39   80       81
20-29   83       85
14-19   88       91

Even for the people over 80, pronunciation of yod is minority use in
'news'; it is a slim majority for them in 'student'. They were born in
the 1920s. Since then, no age group has pronounced the yod as a
majority. These results accord with general impressions. In the last 50
years, schoolteachers, parents and other arbiters have had little to say
about retaining yod. It does not appear to be conscious for any
identifiable group. Two years ago, ESSO ran a commercial in which the
mechanic with his nose stuck in the engine compartment of a car talked
about a "CHOON-up" while the owner in a suit with briefcase responded
about the "TOON-up".