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Canadian raising in a midwestern U.S. city

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2009

Jennifer Dailey-O'Cain
Jennifer Dailey-O'Cain
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
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Abstract

This article provides evidence from a small city in the northern United States for Canadian raising, the raising of /au/ and /ai/ to [AU] and [Ai]. As hypothesized, /ai/-raising is much more frequent and regular, but /au/-raising also occurs. Speech style is statistically significant only for /ai/-raising. The raising of /ai/ is not significant for gender or age, but /au/-raising seems to be led by young women. This evidence suggests that, while /ai/-raising has been fully entrenched in this phonological system for some time, /au/-raising is a new and separate change in progress. The /au/-diphthong is also often fronted when raised, a finding similar to several Canadian studies (Chambers, 1981a; Hung, Davison, & Chambers, 1993). This suggests that the Canadian varieties studied may not, as previously suggested (Chambers, 1981b), be conforming to the U.S. norm, but instead that the two varieties are converging.

Type
Research Article
Information
Language Variation and Change , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , March 1997 , pp. 107 - 120
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

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