thumb|upright=1.15|A simplified diagram of Canadian raising . Actual starting points vary.|class=skin-invert-image
Canadian raising (also sometimes known as English diphthong raising) is an allophonic rule of phonology in many varieties of North American English that changes the pronunciation of diphthongs with open-vowel starting points. Most commonly, the shift affects or , or both, when they are pronounced before voiceless consonants (therefore, in words like price and clout, respectively, but not in prize and cloud). In North American English, and usually begin in an open vowel [~], but through raising they shift to , or . Canadian English often has raising in words with both (height, life, psych, type, etc.) and (clout, house, south, scout, etc.), while a number of American English varieties (such as Inland North, Western New England, and increasingly more General American accents) have this feature in but not . It is thought to have originated in Canada in the late 19th century. It has also been described as being blocked when the diphthong has less than primary stress and is immediately followed by a stressed syllable, resulting in a lack of raising in words like psychology, citation and micrometer (the instrument), but raising in Psyche, cite, and microphone. This can be further explained with syllable structure or feet. Similarly, in traditional New York City English, is backed towards except before voiceless consonants, resulting in a distinction reinforced by frontness. Conversely, in Philadelphia English the raised variant may be directly above or more back relative to .
The raised variant of varies by dialect, with more common in Western Canada and a fronted variant commonly heard in Central Canada. In any case, the open vowel component of the diphthongs changes to a mid vowel (, , or ).
Geographic distribution
Inside Canada
As its name implies, Canadian raising is found throughout most of Canada, though the exact phonetic quality of Canadian raising may differ throughout the country. In raised , the first element tends to be farther back in Quebec and the Canadian Prairies (particularly in Alberta) and Maritimes: thus, . The first element tends to be the farthest forward in eastern and southern Ontario: thus, . Newfoundland English is the Canadian dialect that participates least in any conditioned Canadian raising, while Vancouver English may lack the raising of in particular.
Outside Canada
Canadian raising is not restricted to Canada. Raising of both and is common in eastern New England, for example in some Boston accents (the former more likely than the latter), as well as in the Upper Midwest. South Atlantic English, New Orleans English, and the accents of England's Fens feature it as well. Raisinɡ of before voiceless consonants is found in Wisbech, March, and Chatteris in the Central Fens and King's Lynn, Downham Market, and Ely in the Eastern Fens but not in the Western Fens.
Raising of just is found in a much greater number of dialects in the United States; some researchers have begun to refer to raising of without raising of as American Raising. This phenomenon is most consistently found in the Inland North, the Upper Midwest, New England, New York City, and the mid-Atlantic areas of Pennsylvania (including Philadelphia), Maryland, and Delaware, as well as in Virginia. It is somewhat less common in the lower Midwest, the West, and the South. However, there is considerable variation in the raising of , and it can be found inconsistently throughout the United States.
Raising in other environments
Raising of before certain voiced consonants is most prominent in the Inland North, Western New England, and Philadelphia. It has been noted to occur before , and especially. Hence, words like tiny, spider, cider, tiger, dinosaur, cyber-, beside, idle (but sometimes not idol), and fire may contain a raised nucleus. (Also note that in six of those nine words, is preceded by a coronal consonant; see above paragraph. In five [or possibly six] of those nine words, the syllable after the syllable with contains a liquid.) The use of rather than in such words is unpredictable from phonetic environment alone, though it may have to do with their acoustic similarity to other words that do contain before a voiceless consonant, per the traditional Canadian-raising system.<!-- Sounds similar to the statement about biphone neighborhoods. --> Hence, some researchers have argued that there has been a phonemic split in these dialects; the distribution of the two sounds is becoming more unpredictable among younger speakers.
The raising of is also present in Ulster English, spoken in the northern region of the island of Ireland, in which is split between the sound (before voiced consonants or in final position) and the sound (before voiceless consonants but also sometimes in any position); phonologist Raymond Hickey has described this Ulster raising as "embryonically the situation" for Canadian raising.
See also
- Canadian Shift
- North American English regional phonology
- North-Central American English