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.
Observed surface forms (1)
| Surface form | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Canadian raising | 0 |
Statements (44)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
allophonic variation
ⓘ
phonological phenomenon ⓘ sound change ⓘ |
| affects |
diphthong quality
ⓘ
vowel height ⓘ |
| affectsPhoneme |
/aɪ/
ⓘ
/aʊ/ ⓘ |
| appliesTo |
Canadian English
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
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
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Pacific Northwest of the United States NERFINISHED ⓘ 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/
GENERATED
ⓘ
/əʊ/ GENERATED ⓘ /ʌɪ/ GENERATED ⓘ /ʌʊ/ GENERATED ⓘ |
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.