Canadian raising

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File:Canadian raising on a vowel chart.svg

A simplified diagram of Canadian raising Template:Harvcol. Actual starting points vary.

Canadian raising (also sometimes known as English diphthong raising<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref>) 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 Template:IPAc-en or Template:IPAc-en, 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, Template:IPA and Template:IPA usually begin in an open vowel [[[:Template:IPA link]]~Template:IPA link], but through raising they shift to Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink or Template:IPAblink. Canadian English often has raising in words with both Template:IPAc-en (height, life, psych, type, etc.) and Template:IPAc-en (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 Template:IPAc-en but not Template:IPAc-en. It is thought to have originated in Canada in the late 19th century.<ref name=":0" />

In the U.S., aboot Template:IPA, an exaggerated version of the raised pronunciation of about Template:IPA, is a stereotype of Canadian English.Template:Sfn

Although the symbol Template:Angle bracket is defined as an open-mid back unrounded vowel in the International Phonetic Alphabet, Template:Angle bracket or Template:Angle bracket may signify any raised vowel that contrasts with unraised Template:IPAc-en or Template:IPAc-en, when the exact quality of the raised vowel is not important in the given context.

Description

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Phonetic environment

In general, Canadian raising affects vowels before voiceless consonants like Template:IPAc-en, Template:IPAc-en, Template:IPAc-en, and Template:IPAc-en. Vowels before voiced consonants like Template:IPAc-en, Template:IPAc-en, Template:IPAc-en, and Template:IPAc-en are usually not raised. Furthermore, it usually only happens within word boundaries. 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, but raising in Psyche, cite, and microphone.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> This can be further explained with syllable structure<ref name=":1">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> or feet.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=":1" />

However, several studies indicate that this rule is not completely accurate, and have attempted to formulate different rules.

A study of three speakers in Meaford, Ontario, showed that pronunciation of the diphthong Template:IPAc-en fell on a continuum between raised and unraised. Raising is influenced by voicing of the following consonant, but it may also be influenced by the sound before the diphthong. Frequently the diphthong was raised when preceded by a coronal: in gigantic, dinosaur, and Siberia.Template:Sfn

Raising before Template:IPA, as in wire, iris, and fire, has been documented in some American accents.Template:Sfn

Raising can apply to compound words. Hence, the first vowel in high school Template:IPA as a term meaning "a secondary school for students approximately 14–18 years old" may be raised, whereas high school Template:IPA with the literal meaning of "a school that is high (e.g. in elevation)" is unaffected. (The two terms are also distinguished by the position of the stress accent, as shown.) The same is true of "high chair".Template:Sfn

However, frequently it does not. One study of speakers in Rochester, New York and Minnesota found a very inconsistent pattern of Template:IPA raising before voiceless consonants in certain prefixes; for example, the numerical prefix bi- was raised in bicycle but not bisexual or bifocals. Likewise, the vowel was consistently kept low when used in a prefix in words like dichotomy and anti-Semitic. This pattern may have to do with stress or familiarity of the word to the speaker; however, these relations are still inconsistent.Template:Sfn

In most dialects of North American English, intervocalic Template:IPA and Template:IPA are pronounced as an alveolar flap Template:IPA when the following vowel is unstressed or word-initial, a phenomenon known as flapping. In accents with both flapping and Canadian raising, Template:IPAc-en or Template:IPAc-en before a flapped Template:IPA may still be raised, even though the flap is a voiced consonant. Hence, while in accents without raising, writer and rider are pronounced differently as a result of a slight difference in vowel length due to pre-fortis clipping, in accents with raising, the words may be distinguished by their vowels: writer Template:IPA, rider Template:IPA.Template:Sfn

Result

The raised variant of Template:IPAc-en typically becomes Template:IPA. In most of Canada, the raised vowel is further front than Template:IPAc-en,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and in traditional New York City English, Template:IPAc-en is backed towards Template:IPA except before voiceless consonants, resulting in a distinction based more on frontness,Template:Citation needed but in Philadelphia it may be more back.Template:Sfn

The raised variant of Template:IPAc-en varies by dialect, with Template:IPA more common in Western Canada and a fronted variant Template:IPA commonly heard in Central Canada.Template:Sfn In any case, the open vowel component of the diphthongs changes to a mid vowel (Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink or Template:IPAblink).

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 Template:IPAc-en, the first element tends to be farther back in Quebec and the Canadian Prairies and Maritimes (particularly in Alberta): thus, Template:IPA. The first element tends to be the farthest forward in eastern and southern Ontario: thus, Template:IPA.<ref>Boberg, Charles (2008). "Regional Phonetic Differentiation in Standard Canadian English". Journal of English Linguistics, 36(2), 129–154, p. 140-141. https://doi.org/10.1177/0075424208316648</ref> Newfoundland English is the Canadian dialect that participates least in any conditioned Canadian raising, while Vancouver English may lack the raising of Template:IPAc-en in particular.Template:Sfn

Outside Canada

Canadian raising is not restricted to Canada. Raising of both Template:IPAc-en and Template:IPAc-en is common in eastern New England, for example in some Boston accents (the former more likely than the latter),Template:Sfn as well as in the Upper Midwest. South Atlantic English, New Orleans English,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the accents of England's Fens feature it as well. Raisinɡ of Template:IPA 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.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Raising of just Template:IPAc-en is found in a much greater number of dialects in the United States; some researchers have begun to refer to raising of Template:IPAc-en without raising of Template:IPAc-en as American Raising.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn It is somewhat less common in the lower Midwest, the West, and the South. However, there is considerable variation in the raising of Template:IPAc-en, and it can be found inconsistently throughout the United States.Template:Sfn

Raising in other environments

Raising of Template:IPA before certain voiced consonants is most prominent in the Inland North, Western New England, and Philadelphia.Template:Sfn It has been noted to occur before Template:IPA, Template:IPA and Template:IPA 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, Template:IPA is preceded by a coronal consonant; see above paragraph. In five [or possibly six] of those nine words, the syllable after the syllable with Template:IPA contains a liquid.) The use of Template:IPA rather than Template:IPA 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 Template:IPA before a voiceless consonant, per the traditional Canadian-raising system. 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.Template:Sfn

The raising of Template:IPAc-en is also present in Ulster English, spoken in the northern region of the island of Ireland, in which Template:IPAc-en is split between the sound Template:IPA (before voiced consonants or in final position) and the sound Template:IPA (before voiceless consonants but also sometimes in any position); phonologist Raymond Hickey has described this Ulster raising as "embryonically the situation" for Canadian raising.Template:Sfn

Notes

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Bibliography

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