Reply to comment about "Canadian raising: A feature that differentiates Canadian and American English"

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Submitted by Rishi Gopinath on August 1, 2025, at 10:41

Hi Christine, that's a great question!

Interestingly, it's been found that the word 'aunt' is only widely pronounced with the 'long-A' sound (ɑː) in the Northeastern United States. Outside of New England, most if not all Americans pronounce it with the 'open-A' sound (æ) that many of us Canadians tend to pronounce it with. Inevitably, many of us North Americans tend to make a homophone out of our aunts and ants!