ABSTRACT
Canada is a vast and socially diverse country, so that the emphasis of this entry is on the English-speaking communities, which comprise some 45 percent of the population. In The American Language, Mencken discussed Canadian English under “Dialects,” derived variously from “a continuous flow of immigration from the British Isles” and from “currents of migration from the United States” (1963, 469). Modern Canadian English is generally highly influenced by the cultural dominance of the United States, from which some 345 television channels are beamed. The opening essay of the collection Canadian Writing Today, entitled “Broadcasting and Canadian Culture,” made this concession: “The bitter fact is that most Canadians have formed their taste in entertainment from the most popular American network shows” (Richler, ed., 1970, 31).
