Why do I have Canadian Raising if I'm not Canadian?

My "rights" and "rides" don't rhyme. Rights goes like [r\`VItz] Rides goes like [r\`aIdz]
This is part of the Canadian Raising, is it not? Now, having grown up in Boston, why is it that I have this?

Yes, that is Canadian Raising alright. The matter here is that "Canadian" in "Canadian Raising" is really just part of the name, as Canadian Raising is actually found throughout much of the northern US as whole, from the Northeast to the Pacific Northwest. While many of these dialects may not have appreciable raising of /aU/, it is the norm to have raising of at least /aI/ in much of this area. As for Boston, Canadian Raising actually extends much further south from there in the eastern US; I have heard of it being present as far south as New Jersey.

Josh's right in that Canadian Raising is spreading southward in the US. At least here, younger people generally have more consistent and stronger Canadian Raising of /aI/ than middle-aged or older people, who are likely to weaker raising of /aI/ and not to be consistent in such, and younger people are more likely to have any sort of raising of /aU/ (which is generally much weaker than that of /aI/ even for them) more frequently than middle-aged or older people, who frequently lack such altogether or when they do have it, it is very sporadic and barely noticable.

I'm one of those posters that Josh Lalonde mentioned - but I'm from the Worcester area, not Boston. ;-) But yes, I have Canadian Raising very consistently - compare my:

right - ["r\6It]
ride - ["r\aId]

lout - ["lEUt]
loud - ["laUd]

From my impressions of the dialect here, Canadian Raising seems to be predominant - perhaps close to universal - in Massachusetts. Even /aU/ usually seems to be raised to [EU] or [VU]. (And it seems to be just as common among middle-aged speakers as among young ones here.) And from what I've read, Canadian Raising is common at least as far south as New Jersey, with some pockets in Virginia and elsewhere. And it also seems to be predominant throughout the Inland North and Pacific Northwest. I wouldn't be surprised if, in absolute numbers, there were more Americans than Canadians who have Canadian Raising.

>>From my impressions of the dialect here, Canadian Raising seems to be predominant - perhaps close to universal - in Massachusetts. Even /aU/ usually seems to be raised to [EU] or [VU]. (And it seems to be just as common among middle-aged speakers as among young ones here.) And from what I've read, Canadian Raising is common at least as far south as New Jersey, with some pockets in Virginia and elsewhere. And it also seems to be predominant throughout the Inland North and Pacific Northwest. I wouldn't be surprised if, in absolute numbers, there were more Americans than Canadians who have Canadian Raising.<<

At this point, I tend to myself perceive Canadian Raising of /aI/ as a standard part of northern US NAE, to the point that I perceive its *lack* as markedly accented. However, I do tend to perceive the marked Canadian Raising of /aU/ as somewhat accented, even though I myself do have global raising of /aU/ (but it is generally weak enough that I do not really notice it, and can only tell that it is present articulatorily - but when I do actually notice it it does sound accented even in my own speech).

Hey, thanks for all the replies.

@ Josh:
No, I don't have raising for /aU/ as well, or at least not a very noticeable one. I must admit there is something about my "abouts" when I compare with Californians, as I live in California now. If it raises, it probably does to something more like /@U/ if that makes sense at all, I'm not so sure.

@ Lazar:
I didn't know it was mainstream in Mass. I guess I never paid much attention to my accent until I moved to California and realized I spoke different than the others.

I never thought about it, but you're right. It's quite usual to hear Canadian raising among young Americans.

>> I didn't know it was mainstream in Mass. I guess I never paid much attention to my accent until I moved to California and realized I spoke different than the others. <<

What other features do you notice that are different in California English compared to your dialect?

Guest:
Well, what I find most different is how they raise /I/ and /{/ before /N/ which results in something like "let's go have a dreenk" [dr\iNk]. I don't have such raising so my /I/ and my /{/ are almost ever /I/ and /{/
Mary, merry and marry sounding alike is also different.
There are probably other things but at the moment I can't really think of any as I'm sitting by myself with no Californian around speaking to me, but I'll make sure I pay attention next time.