The fronting of /u:/ (the GOOSE set)

Another change in progress in Canadian English, part of a continental trend affecting many North American varieties, is the fronting of /u:/, whereby the nucleus of /u:/ moves forward to high-central or even high-front position, directly behind /i:/. There is a wide allophonic dispersion in the GOOSE set, extending over most of the high region of the vowel space. Most advanced are tokens of /u:/ in free position after coronals (do, too); behind these are tokens in syllables closed with coronals (boots, food, soon), then tokens before non-coronals (goof, soup); remaining in back position are tokens of /u:/ before /l/ (cool, pool, tool). Unlike in some British speech, Canadian English does not show any fronting or unrounding of the glide of /u:/, and most Canadians show no parallel centralization of /oʊ/ , which generally remains in back position, except in Cape Breton and Newfoundlan.