Fee, Margery and Janice McAlpine (1997) Guide to Canadian English Usage (1st ed.) Toronto: Oxford University Press
After developing, first, a database (the Strathy Corpus of Canadian English), then, research methods for investigating usage, and, finally, a suitable format for the manuscript, researchers at the Strathy Language Unit produced the first edition of the Guide to Canadian English Usage, published in 1997 by Oxford University Press (Toronto). In 2000, a paperback edition was released.
Reviews of the First Edition
"What is correct Canadian English? Most Canadians find themselves choosing between British and American usage while struggling with First Nations names such as Ojibwa, Micmac, and so on. This useful new book addresses all manner of language puzzlers, drawing on a corpus of 12 million words of Canadian English published in books, magazines, scholarly journals and newspapers. Its 1750 entries are alphabetically arranged and look at everything from grammar, pronunciation, inclusive language (racist or sexist usage, disabilities, job titles) to foreign phrases, contradictory spelling, pluralization and much more. Each entry offers illustrative quotations.... A book to end all arguments, it should also prove invaluable to wordsmiths of all stripes."
--Halifax Daily News
"Most of the guide's 1,750 entries offer multiple examples of usage in context taken from Canadian books, magazines and newspapers. These have been imaginatively selected, and make wonderful reading of and unto themselves.... For lovers of language and/or the True North, the Guide to Canadian English Usage is most welcome"
--Globe and Mail
"Oxford University Press has just published Canada's first guide to proper English usage, and Quebec English earns recognition as 'a new Canadian regional dialect'.... While anglo-Quebecers have expressions to call their own, so do all English Canadians. From hosers to loonies, sovereignists to tuques, pogey to baby bonus to wind-chill factor, Canadians use a variety of English distinct from British or American English."
--The Gazette (Montreal)