Module 3: Canadian Raising

In my last post I examined the Newfoundlander accent, a rather unusual variation of the Canadian accent. But what about (read /ə'bəwt/)the rest of the Canada?

One of the biggest contributors to the Canadian accent is called "Canadian raising."This is when the low vowel diphthongs get "raised" by moving the position of the jaw upwards when articulating the vowel. Two common examples of Canadian raising are shown below. 

/aj/ to /əj/

/aw/ to  /əw/

There is some variation in Canadian raising. Some Canadians will raise both diphthongs to the stressed mid vowel /ʌ/, instead of the unstressed mid vowel shown above. 

The Canadian accent also occurs because of the tendency for Canadians to "borrow" low vowels. Words that Americans tend to pronounce with the sound /a/, Canadians tend to pronounce with the diphthong /æ/. This leads to pronunciation differences in words like pasta, as shown below. 

/pastə/ to /pæstə/

The degree of Canadian raising is exaggerated by many when attempting to mimic the Canadian accent. The changes in pronunciation of words like out and about are in reality much subtler than most believe. As a Canadian living in America I have rarely been "outed" by raising my vowels, but almost always due to my tendency to borrow low vowels. 

References 

Harley, Heidi. 2006.  English Words: A Linguistic Introduction.  Malden, MA. Blackwell.

The Language Samples Project. 2001. Canadian English: Canadian Phonology. Retrieved from http://ic-migration.webhost.uits.arizona.edu/icfiles/ic/lsp/site/Canadian/canphon3.html#diphthongs