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Originally Posted by macki06
i dont think im making a lot of sense, lol. but david foster, will from will and grace, will schuester's wife from glee are famous canadians that i can think of right now. and i dont think theres anything distinct with how they speak apart from they sound american'ish to me.
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I think it's interesting to note that these actors (in American movies/TV shows) are just that-- actors. It is my opinion that they are probably modulating different areas of their speech to fit in with a more "hollywood" accent (which I interpret as standard).
For an example (which is much more pronounced I would think) of such "modulation", think of young white kids who try to talk like their favorite rap stars (like eminem or someone like that). I remembered seeing a whole lot of that in California- where that accent is otherwise nowhere to be found in really white, suburban areas.
To me a central Canadian accent would sound like all those hockey players I used to see on TV when I was a kid-- Dan Aykroyd (blues brothers, ghost busters, etc) has that kind of sound. I don't know if I could tell the difference between that kind of accent and an American mid-western one though (if you watch Fargo, they kind of have that accent going on as well). When it comes to western Canada though, it is really close to American (standard) English as far as my ears can tell... but like i said before there are certain qualities that can give it away including intonation and certain pronunciation.
If it's possible, try finding some youtubers from that region and listen to them talk. I bet you will find some qualities that are distinguishable from American standard English.