Vowels PRICE AND MOUTH

Miller (1989: 110) reports Canadian raising (the production of PRICE and MOUTH before voiceless vowels as  and  respectively) in Calais, ME –not surprising as this town is on the border of Canada. Raising was reported in Calais in LANE (Map 354, vol. II, Part 1; Map 481, vol. II, Part 2; Map 53, vol. I, Part 1, cited in Miller 1989: 110), but not in neighboring towns. Kurath and McDavid (1961: 109- 10, cited in Miller1989: 112) cited patterns similar to Canadian raising for coastal ME and southern NH. However, Canadian raising has not been reported elsewhere in NE. Our NH speakers do not produce raised nuclei in these diphthongs.

A pattern that may be seen as similar to Canadian raising, however, has been reported in Vermont for some time. Kurath (1939–43) reported a fronted, raised nucleus of MOUTH was being overtaken by a fronted, but low production in VT. He also found that change in progress was occurring with PRICE, in that the raised nucleus was receding in favor of a lowered, more “standard” pronunciation. Work by Amblo and Roberts (1997) notes the continuation of this trend in VT in that women and younger speakers are pronouncing these vowels in a more standard-sounding way than older rural men.