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Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

A Way with Words, a radio show and podcast about language and linguistics.

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Is Shatner's "sabotage" really a Canadian pronunciation?
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1
2010/09/24 - 6:17am
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There has been some on-and-off reference to William Shatner's unique pronunciation of the word sabotage. There are several references on the internet, and clips on YouTube.
Shatner's sabotage
He pronounces the final vowel like the first: /sæbətæʒ/ as opposed to the way I have always heard it /sæbətɑːʒ/.

He claims his pronunciation is a common Canadian variant. Can anyone confirm this claim?

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2
2010/09/27 - 12:31pm
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It doesn't seem likely to me that someone from Montreal would have been raised with a local variant that is so stridently different from what a prevailing French Canadian environment would reinforce.

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3
2010/09/27 - 6:40pm
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Now, I can see that in Montreal they would pronounce the first and last syllables alike, but that would be by making the first syllable rhyme with "Saab", not making the last rhyme with the first syllable of "casual".

(IPA for ASCII: American /'s&b @ ta:Z/, Shatner's /'s&b @ t&Z/, French /sa bo taZ/.)

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4
2010/10/27 - 10:44am
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I recently was able to confirm Shatner's claim. I heard a Canadian colleague of mine say garage as /gəræːʒ/. I restrained myself from stopping him mid-sentence. He later confirmed that he also says /sæbətæʒ/.

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