Canadian raising
Noun
Meaning
(phonology, dialectology) The phenomenon in some dialects of English, especially Canadian English, in which /aɪ/ is realized as [ʌɪ] and/or /aʊ/ is realized as [ʌʊ] or [ɛʊ] before underlying unvoiced consonants.
(phonology, dialectology) A similar but more restricted phenomenon, found in most dialects of American English, that applies only to /aɪ/, which is realized as [ʌɪ] in certain contexts, especially before underlying unvoiced consonants but with significant speaker-to-speaker variation.
Source: en.wiktionary.orgExamples
Description main Phonetic environment In general, Canadian raising affects vowels before voiceless consonants like main, main, main, and main.
As with Canadian raising, the relative advancement of the raised nucleus is a regional indicator.
Especially in parts of the Atlantic provinces, some Canadians do not possess the phenomenon of Canadian raising.
On the other hand, certain non-Canadian accents demonstrate Canadian raising.
Prairies (Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta) A strong Canadian raising exists in the prairie regions together with certain older usages such as chesterfield and front room also associated with the Maritimes.