The following notes are based on findings obtained in a pilot study of the speech of English-speaking residents of Montreal, which was carried out from 1957 to 1958. The data was obtained by circulating a questionnaire designed to elicit information on vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar and syntax. In general, the choice of items for inclusion in this questionnaire was restricted to those which illustrate differences between British and American usage. In the vocabulary section, a further restriction was made in that no items pertaining exclusively to rural life were included.
With respect to the selection of informants there were several deviations from the established methods of linguistic surveys. In most surveys it is usual to insist that informants belong to families which have been established in the area under investigation for several generations, and that they speak no other language but English.