Canadian Raising

E942794

Canadian Raising is a phonological phenomenon in many Canadian English dialects where the starting position of certain diphthongs (like the vowel in “about” or “ice”) is pronounced higher before voiceless consonants.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Canadian Raising canonical 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (44)

Predicate Object
instanceOf allophonic variation ⓘ
phonological phenomenon ⓘ
sound change ⓘ
affects diphthong quality ⓘ
vowel height ⓘ
affectsPhoneme /aɪ/ ⓘ
/aʊ/ ⓘ
appliesTo Canadian English ⓘ
English language ⓘ
some American English dialects ⓘ
associatedWith Canadian English identity ⓘ
canInfluence perception of Canadian accent ⓘ
conditionedBy following voiceless consonant ⓘ
phonological environment ⓘ
contrastsExamplePair lout–loud ⓘ
writer–rider ⓘ
contrastsWith non-raised diphthongs before voiced consonants ⓘ
describedAs raising of the nucleus of /aɪ/ and /aʊ/ before voiceless consonants ⓘ
documentedSince mid-20th century ⓘ
exampleWord about ⓘ
ice ⓘ
ride ⓘ
write ⓘ
featureOf many Canadian English dialects ⓘ
hasEnvironment pre-fortis position ⓘ
hasOrthographicOpacity true ⓘ
hasVariant raising of /aɪ/ only ⓘ
raising of both /aɪ/ and /aʊ/ ⓘ
isAllophonic true ⓘ
isRuleType phonological raising rule ⓘ
languageFamilyContext Germanic languages ⓘ
notedFor stereotypical pronunciation of “about” as “aboot” ⓘ
occursInRegion Canada ⓘ
Pacific Northwest of the United States ⓘ
linked to: Pacific Northwest

Upper Midwest of the United States ⓘ
resultsIn allophonic alternation of /aɪ/ ⓘ
allophonic alternation of /aʊ/ ⓘ
higher starting point of diphthong ⓘ
studiedInField phonology ⓘ
sociolinguistics ⓘ
typicalRaisedAllophone /əɪ/ ⓘ
/əʊ/ ⓘ
/ʌɪ/ ⓘ
/ʌʊ/ ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.