/æ/ raising

In the sociolinguistics of the English language, /æ/ raising or short-a raising is a phenomenon by which the "short a" vowel /æ/ ^ⓘ, the TRAP/BATH vowel (found in such words as lack and laugh), is pronounced with a raising of the tongue. In most American and many Canadian English accents, /æ/ raising is specifically /æ/ tensing: a combination of greater raising, fronting, lengthening, and gliding that occurs only in certain phonological environments or certain words. The most common context for tensing /æ/ throughout North American English, regardless of dialect, is when this vowel appears before a nasal consonant (thus, for example, commonly in pan^ⓘ, but rarely in pat^ⓘ).

The realization of this "tense" (as opposed to "lax") /æ/ includes variants such as [ɛə], [eə], [ɛː], etc., which can depend on the particular dialect or even speaker. One common realization is [ɛə], a transcription that will be used throughout this article as a generalized representation of the tensed pronunciation.

Variable raising of /æ/ (and /æɔ/, the MOUTH vowel transcribed with ⟨aʊ⟩ in General American) before nasal consonants also occurs in Australian English.

/æ/ raising in North American English
Following consonant	Example words	New York City, New Orleans	Baltimore, Philadelphia	Midland US, New England, Pittsburgh, Western US	Southern US	Canada, Northern Mountain US	Minnesota, Wisconsin	Great Lakes US
Non-prevocalic /m, n/	fan, lamb, stand	[ɛə]		[ɛə]	[ɛə~ɛjə]	[ɛə]		[ɛə]
Prevocalic /m, n/	animal, planet, Spanish	[æ]		[ɛə]	[ɛə~ɛjə]	[ɛə]
/ŋ/	frank, language	[æ]		[ɛː~eɪ~æ]	[æ~æɛə]	[ɛː~ɛj]	[eː~ej]
Non-prevocalic /ɡ/	bag, drag	[ɛə]	[æ]	[æ]
Prevocalic /ɡ/	dragon, magazine	[æ]
Non-prevocalic /b, d, ʃ/	grab, flash, sad	[ɛə]				[æ]	[ɛə]
Non-prevocalic /f, θ, s/	ask, bath, half, glass	[ɛə]
Otherwise	as, back, happy, locality	[æ]
1 2 3 4 In New York City and Philadelphia, most function words (am, can, had, etc.) and some learned or less common words (alas, carafe, lad, etc.) have [æ]. ↑ In Philadelphia, the irregular verbs began, ran, and swam have [æ]. ↑ In Philadelphia, bad, mad, and glad alone in this context have [ɛə]. 1 2 The untensed /æ/ may be lowered and retracted as much as [ä] in varieties affected by the Low-Back-Merger Shift, mainly predominant in Canada and the American West. ↑ In New York City, certain lexical exceptions exist (like avenue being tense) and variability is common before /dʒ/ and /z/ as in imagine, magic, and jazz. In New Orleans, [ɛə] additionally occurs before /v/ and /z/.

[split-a-9] 1 2 3 4 In New York City and Philadelphia, most function words (am, can, had, etc.) and some learned or less common words (alas, carafe, lad, etc.) have [æ].

[11] In Philadelphia, the irregular verbs began, ran, and swam have [æ].

[18] In Philadelphia, bad, mad, and glad alone in this context have [ɛə].

[lbms-19] 1 2 The untensed /æ/ may be lowered and retracted as much as [ä] in varieties affected by the Low-Back-Merger Shift, mainly predominant in Canada and the American West.

[24] In New York City, certain lexical exceptions exist (like avenue being tense) and variability is common before /dʒ/ and /z/ as in imagine, magic, and jazz.
In New Orleans, [ɛə] additionally occurs before /v/ and /z/.