wine-whine merger

Contents

English

Pronunciation

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /wɑenˈwɑen ˌmɜːdʒə(ɹ)/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /waɪnˈwaɪn ˌmɜːdʒə(ɹ)/
• (General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /wɒenˈwɒen ˌmɵːdʒɘ(ɹ)/
• (Scottish English) IPA^(key): /wəinˈʍəin ˌmɛɾdʒəɾ/
• (US, no wine-whine merger) IPA^(key): /waɪnˈʍaɪn ˌmɝdʒɚ/
• (US, wine-whine merger) IPA^(key): /waɪnˈwaɪn ˌmɝdʒɚ/
• Hyphenation: wine‧whine‧mer‧ger

Noun

wine-whine merger (plural wine-whine mergers)

1. (phonology) A merger in which [ʍ] (the sound heard at the beginning of the word whine in a Scottish accent or several accents in the United States) becomes [w] (the sound heard at the beginning of the word wine); in accents where this merger occurs, whine and wine are homophones.

See also

• labiodentalization

References

• Phonological history of wh on Wikipedia.Wikipedia