Canadian raising

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Canadian raising (also sometimes known as English diphthong raising^[1]) 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 /aɪ/ ^ⓘ or /aʊ/ ^ⓘ, 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, /aɪ/ and /aʊ/ usually begin in an open vowel [ä~a], but through raising they shift to [ɐ] ^ⓘ, [ʌ] ^ⓘ or [ə] ^ⓘ. Canadian English often has raising in words with both /aɪ/ (height, life, psych, type, etc.) and /aʊ/ (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 /aɪ/ but not /aʊ/. It is thought to have originated in Canada in the late 19th century.^[1]

In the U.S., aboot [əˈbut], an exaggerated version of the raised pronunciation of about [əˈbʌʊt], is a stereotype of Canadian English.^[2]

Although the symbol ⟨ʌ⟩ is defined as an open-mid back unrounded vowel in the International Phonetic Alphabet, ⟨ʌɪ⟩ or ⟨ʌʊ⟩ may signify any raised vowel that contrasts with unraised /aɪ/ or /aʊ/, when the exact quality of the raised vowel is not important in the given context.