Though placing the events on the real-time curve when rendering them in speech may seem more natural to one, the use of apparent time, in fact, is just as, if not more, frequent than the usage of real-time constructions.
Indeed, a closer look at the structure of the English language speech, particularly, the colloquial one, will reveal that the incorporation of modal verbs indicating probability, is quite common. Herein the significance of the so-called apparent time lies; it allows for denoting the probability of a specific event or action, therefore, adding a tint of uncertainty to a sentence.
As far as the specifics of the Southern American pronunciation is concerned, one must note that the latter stands in sharp contrast to the manner of speech adopted in the northern areas of the United States, as well as that one of Canada. Indeed, a palatalization of consonants, which can be viewed as one of the most characteristic features of the Southern pronunciation, can hardly be observed in either the Northern American dialect or the Canadian English.
Apart from the differences between the Canadian English and the Southern American dialect, the fact that the Canadian pronunciation involves the notorious Canadian rising deserves to be mentioned. To be more specific, the “ou” diphthong is pronounced somewhat differently from the standards of the American pronunciation.
The Southern American dialect, in its turn, has a few distinct characteristics, which allow for distinguishing it among the rest of the accents that are traditionally associated with the English language. Among the key ones, the fact that monophthong vowels prevail in the speech of the people living in the American South, particularly, in Texas, must be noted.
Also, referring to the issue of apparent-time and real-time verbs indicated above, one must also state that the residents of the American South are much more prone to using the specified modal verbs as the tools for expressing elicitation than the means for getting the meaning of capability or capacity across. True, the specified verbs do have a denotation of probability among their key interpretations; however, they are not used as widely for the purpose of conveying elicitation as they are in the South American dialect.
Researches also show that there is an impressive difference in the use of vernaculars between the residents of Canada and the citizens of the Southern American states. To be more specific, the latter tend to have an increasingly big number of individual vernaculars in it.
The feature in question can be explained by the spatial differences between the North and the South of America; for instance, the density of the population and, therefore, the possibility for developing unique language features within a specific region differs considerably between the Southern parts of America and the corresponding Northern ones. As a result, the American South, unlike the Northern states or the population of Canada, for that matter, seems to have created a rather diverse network of vernaculars in the Southern set of dialects of the English language.
Even though most of the people inhabiting North America speak English as their native tongue, the dialects, which are spoken in different parts of North America, are strikingly different. The lack of similarities between Canadian English and the English language is spoken in the South is a graphic example of the phenomenon under consideration.