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Canadian Raising Retrospect and Prospect

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

J.K. Chambers
J.K. Chambers*
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
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Abstract

Canadian Raising, which makes allophonic variants of the low diphthongs /ai/ and /au/, is evaluated with respect to its diachronic, geographic, and synchronic status. Its origins have been established by documentary evidence from 1934. However, comparative dialect evidence from the Linguistic Atlas of the United States and Canada pushes the origins back to the second half of the 19th century. Raising of /ai/ in the northern United States turns out to be different from Canadian Raising, though they overlap. Sociolinguistic studies of (aw)-Fronting in 1980 showed a tendency for fronted onsets to be unraised. Though this was statistically insignificant, any strengthening would threaten the existence of Canadian Raising. Subsequent research shows that the tendency was accidental.

Résumé

Résumé

Le Canadian Raising, un phénomène qui transforme en variantes allophoniques les diphtongues basses /ai/ and /au/, est évalué par rapport à son statut diachronique, géographique et synchronique. Ses origines ont été établies sur la base de preuves documentaires datant de 1934. Cependant, les données comparatives dialectales du Linguistic Atlas of the United States and Canada ont repoussé les origines de ce processus jusqu’à la deuxième moitié du XIXe siècle. Dans la partie nord des États-Unis, la réalisation de /ai/ se différencie du Canadian Raising, malgré le fait qu’il y a un chevauchement entre les deux phénomènes. Les études sociolinguistiques sur l’antériorisation-du-(aw) de 1980 ont démontré une tendance de la voyelle avancée, lorsqu’elle est la première d’une diphtongue, à être non-relevéehaute. Bien que ceci était statistiquement non-significative, toute forme de consolidation aurait menacé l’existence du Canadian Raising. Or, des recherches ultérieures ont démontré que la tendance était accidentelle.

Type
Sounds Canadian
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 51 , Issue 2-3: Canadian English in a Global Context , November 2006 , pp. 105 - 118
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association 2006

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