Why do Canadians say "new" like "n-you"?

Question

Asked this person where they were from... Their response? NYOUfinland... what? They meant Newfoundland but when the word "you" came into "new" i have noo clue..

Answer 1

Because Canadian English is far more heavily influenced by British English than American English is.
In British English we pronounce 'new' as 'nyoo'. We also pronounce 'dew', 'due', 'duke' as dyoo, dyoo and dyook.

Answer 2

We say that in ireland too

Answer 3

Don't confuse the Newfie accent with Canada as a whole. That would be like confusing a Mainer accent, or a MIssissippian accent, with the US as a whole. Newfoundland is a very special society of its own. Really nice people in my opinion, but they do have an odd accent. I never noticed that Newfoundlanders say nyou instead of new. How people say vowel sounds is a major source of different accents or word pronunciation, and it is an interesting thing, but the why is usually a historic artifact, a result of who settled the area way back when. Accents vary quite a bit as you move across Canada, much as they do for the US.

Answer 4

You possibly mean like Britons and most English-speakers say "new" - thus as "niew". As far as I know, only Americans say "noo".

Answer 5

The bigger question is why English inserts that "y" sound before the "u" sound in words like union, cute, pure, beauty, sugar, mute, future, etc. I don't think any other language does. I don't stick it into words beginning with "n" and I haven't heard it in the US but I guess it makes as much sense in those words as in the others.

Answer 6

Only an AMERITARD could be so gleefully ignorant.

Answer 7

So who made YOU the expert on pronunciation ? Ever consider why you pronounce things as you do ? Perhaps you are the one who needs educating.

Answer 8

So which is it? Canadians say it that way or Canadians from Newfoundland say it that way? It's like calling a deep south US accent or someone from Boston as THE American accent.

Answer 9

Why do Muricans say ‘N-OOOOOO’.

Not only do Canadians say it correctly, but the British—who invented it—say it that way too.

Answer 10

the REAL question is why do they say "about" like "uh-boot"?