Ontarians’ perceptions of “Hockey English”

Abstract

This article focuses on how Hockey English (HE) is perceived and represented by Ontarians. It is based on a three-part online survey which was completed by a total of 249 respondents. Interest in this community of practice emanates from the strong link between Canadian identity and hockey, as hockey has been Canada’s official national winter sport since 1994. This study finds that, in the popular imagination of Ontarians, there exists a particular form of Canadian English (CE), spoken among ice hockey players that respondents describe in terms of lexical features and associate with a lack of education and with rurality. According to them, use of this speech is not restricted to the context of hockey; rather, it can be heard in everyday conversation as well. The findings highlight that more than 50% of the respondents perceive no gender differences in HE. Despite the perceived differences between CE and HE, some participants report that “sounding Canadian” is a way to identify speakers of HE.