Canadian Raising of /aɪ/ and /aʊ/

E278581

Canadian Raising of /aɪ/ and /aʊ/ is a phonological process in many Canadian English dialects where the starting point of these diphthongs is pronounced higher before voiceless consonants, producing distinct vowel qualities compared to other English varieties.

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All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Canadian Raising of /aɪ/ and /aʊ/ canonical 1

Statements (49)

Predicate Object
instanceOf phonological process
sound change
appliesIn stressed syllables
appliesTo /aɪ/
/aʊ/
conditionType allophonic
contrastEnvironment before voiced consonants
contrastType allophonic contrast conditioned by voicing
contrastWith General American English diphthong realization
effectOnVowelHeight raises starting point of diphthong
effectOnVowelQuality produces higher and more centralized nucleus
environment before voiceless consonants
exampleMinimalPairEffect "writer" vs "rider" distinguished partly by vowel quality
exampleWordWithoutRaising "loud"
"prize"
"ride"
exampleWordWithRaising "about"
"price"
"write"
exceptionPattern may be blocked across some morpheme boundaries
foundInDialect Canadian English
many North American English dialects
geographicAssociation Canada
border areas of the northern United States
historicalStatus relatively recent development in North American English
linguisticLevel phonology
nonTriggerFeature following consonant is [+voice]
oftenCitedIn studies of Canadian English
studies of North American vowel shifts
orthographicIndependence not reflected in English spelling
perceptualEffect makes /aɪ/ and /aʊ/ sound different from other English dialects
phonemicStatus does not create new phonemes
phoneticNotation often described using IPA diacritics for raising or centralization
phoneticRealization /aɪ/ → [aɪ] or [äɪ] before voiced consonants
/aɪ/ → [ʌɪ] or [ɐɪ] before voiceless consonants
/aʊ/ → [aʊ] or [äʊ] before voiced consonants
/aʊ/ → [ʌʊ] or [ɐʊ] before voiceless consonants
phonologicalDomain vowel system
relatedPhenomenon Canadian Shift
Northern Cities Vowel Shift region English
surface form: Northern Cities Vowel Shift (for comparison)
researchField dialectology
sociophonetics
roleInDialectIdentification salient marker of Canadian English
segmentTypeAffected diphthong
terminology also called "Canadian Raising"
triggerFeature following consonant is [-voice]
variation /aʊ/ raising is less consistent than /aɪ/ raising
degree of raising varies by region
younger speakers may show different patterns of raising

Referenced by (1)

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

Prairie English hasFeature Canadian Raising of /aɪ/ and /aʊ/