Is the pin-pen merger a feature that is likely to be noticed by people from outside an area that has the merger?
pin pen merger
Um...yeah, I think it's rather noticeable. It usually sticks out to me when I hear people with it (but I do have an especial interest in phonology).
Maybe within polysyllabic words like "contemporary" people might not notice it as much, but in monosyllabic cases like "pen, men, ten" I think non-merging people would find it noticeable.
Maybe within polysyllabic words like "contemporary" people might not notice it as much, but in monosyllabic cases like "pen, men, ten" I think non-merging people would find it noticeable.
<<what about MIRACLE being pronounced as MERACLE?>>
You'll have to be more specific. (Do you know about IPA and X-SAMPA? Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPA and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-SAMPA .) Are you referring to "miracle" being pronounced with the serious-Sirius merger (with the same vowel as in "near", something like ["mI@`@k5=], ["mI:r\@k5=], ["mir\@k5=], etc., compared with unmerged ["mIr\@k5=], with the same vowel as in ""kit"), or as ["mEr\@k5=], with roughly the same vowel as in "dress" or "merry"? The first pronunciation is predominant in North America - with the unmerged forms pretty much only occurring in the Northeast - whereas the second pronunciation is a lot less common. The Dialect Survey asked a question about this ( http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_17.html ), and you can see the state-by-state results here ( http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/states.html ).
You'll have to be more specific. (Do you know about IPA and X-SAMPA? Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPA and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-SAMPA .) Are you referring to "miracle" being pronounced with the serious-Sirius merger (with the same vowel as in "near", something like ["mI@`@k5=], ["mI:r\@k5=], ["mir\@k5=], etc., compared with unmerged ["mIr\@k5=], with the same vowel as in ""kit"), or as ["mEr\@k5=], with roughly the same vowel as in "dress" or "merry"? The first pronunciation is predominant in North America - with the unmerged forms pretty much only occurring in the Northeast - whereas the second pronunciation is a lot less common. The Dialect Survey asked a question about this ( http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_17.html ), and you can see the state-by-state results here ( http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/states.html ).