What exactly is "Mary-marry-merry merger"?
If someone has "Mary-marry-merry merger", does that mean s/he pronounces the three words the same?
If someone has "Mary-marry-merry merger", does that mean s/he pronounces the three words the same?
What is Mary-marry-merry merger?
So, would the fact that British English makes a clear distinction between these words in speech, as well as the 'cot-caught' example people are constantly giving, render it a clearer, less ambiguous language?
Just interested :)
Just interested :)
<<So, would the fact that British English makes a clear distinction between these words in speech, as well as the 'cot-caught' example people are constantly giving, render it a clearer, less ambiguous language? >>
Don't think so. I've never had any problem understanding which is meant from the context. It's no more ambiguous than words like 'set' which have over 50 different meanings, and yet it's quite obvious which is meant from the context.
Don't think so. I've never had any problem understanding which is meant from the context. It's no more ambiguous than words like 'set' which have over 50 different meanings, and yet it's quite obvious which is meant from the context.
Yeah, merry, Mary, and marry are unlikely to be confused in any sentence. And lots of different dialects have different mergers -- it's not just Americans. There's a big joke in the British musical "Pirates of Penzance" predicated on the fact that for them, "orphan" and "often" sound similar. Doesn't work in an American production, because we say our R's very clearly.
More confusion will create /lAst/ which is -last- in London, but -lost- in L.A., Denver, Columbus OH and Halifax NS.
I don't know how much the caught-cot merger renders any words terribly confusing, as it just means that all short o's are pronounced as ah, like in "father", rather than some of them having a pronounced "aw" sound. New Yorkers have a very strong un-merger in that respect; do you find them easier to understand than other Americans?
As for one dialect being clearer and less ambiguous than the other: one thing that sometimes renders words ambiguous for me when they emerge from British mouths is the intrusive R. I remember reading some heated arguments about just what exactly is being said in Massive Attack's song "Mezzanine". Is it "all these half-floors" or "all these have flaws"? Given that a mezzanine is literally a half-floor, I had assumed he was saying #1, but when you remember that the English tend to slide in that imaginary R on words that end in vowels, I could see the merit of the argument for #2, although that interpretation hadn't even occurred to me until someone wrote it down!
The intrusive R often makes words sound like other words and can be slightly bewildering, especially when what you think you are hearing doesn't match the sentence context. For instance, your English "law" sounds much like my American "lore".
So, clarity is all in the ear of the beholder, as Damian would say, and what seems perfectly clear to one speaker might be confounding to another! Any accent is going to have certain elements that trip up someone who doesn't share it.
As for one dialect being clearer and less ambiguous than the other: one thing that sometimes renders words ambiguous for me when they emerge from British mouths is the intrusive R. I remember reading some heated arguments about just what exactly is being said in Massive Attack's song "Mezzanine". Is it "all these half-floors" or "all these have flaws"? Given that a mezzanine is literally a half-floor, I had assumed he was saying #1, but when you remember that the English tend to slide in that imaginary R on words that end in vowels, I could see the merit of the argument for #2, although that interpretation hadn't even occurred to me until someone wrote it down!
The intrusive R often makes words sound like other words and can be slightly bewildering, especially when what you think you are hearing doesn't match the sentence context. For instance, your English "law" sounds much like my American "lore".
So, clarity is all in the ear of the beholder, as Damian would say, and what seems perfectly clear to one speaker might be confounding to another! Any accent is going to have certain elements that trip up someone who doesn't share it.
Californians have the same vowel in words like Mary-marry-merry, and the same "ah" vowel in words like father-bother-cot-caught-don-dawn.
Is it difficult for merged Americans to pronounce the words in the unmerged British way?
"flaws" doesn't end in a vowel. If the words are indistinguishable, it'll be because of the missing "r" in "floors" rather than one inserted into "flaws".
>> Is it difficult for merged Americans to pronounce the words in the unmerged British way? <<
well, for the bother-father-cot-caught-don-dawn merger it's easy to pronounce if you learn to hear the difference and make the distinction. But it's hard to hear the difference. They all tend to sound like "ah". As for the m-m-m merger, if the difference is pointed out, at least we can hear it, because we have all of those sounds, unlike the b-f-c-c-d-d merger where we only have one vowel for all of those words. So, it is much easier to pronounce m-m-m unmerged.
well, for the bother-father-cot-caught-don-dawn merger it's easy to pronounce if you learn to hear the difference and make the distinction. But it's hard to hear the difference. They all tend to sound like "ah". As for the m-m-m merger, if the difference is pointed out, at least we can hear it, because we have all of those sounds, unlike the b-f-c-c-d-d merger where we only have one vowel for all of those words. So, it is much easier to pronounce m-m-m unmerged.
Honestly, I have no idea what they would sound like if they were pronounced differently! I've never noticed how English people pronounce them, anyway, or which one would be what.
I heard the difference between cot and caught for the first time when watching QI a few weeks ago. It felt like a total breakthrough. Don-dawn still eludes me though. I'm not father-bother merged though, so all those words have more or less the same vowel for me except father.
I don't have the Mary-marry-merry merger. I have noticed with the Mary-marry-merry merger that some people favor what I would say was Mary and some merry. I did go through a week long conference with a girl named Mary calling her Merry, because I that's what I thought she said. Of course that really only confused me, since there was no difference for her.
I don't have the Mary-marry-merry merger. I have noticed with the Mary-marry-merry merger that some people favor what I would say was Mary and some merry. I did go through a week long conference with a girl named Mary calling her Merry, because I that's what I thought she said. Of course that really only confused me, since there was no difference for her.
Here's a sound sample of me pronouncing all these words in the mergers - I don't seem to be merged.
However did you say that 'law' and 'lore' are pronounced differently? Well I guess I'm merged there!
However did you say that 'law' and 'lore' are pronounced differently? Well I guess I'm merged there!
Marry rhymes with batty (short vowel)
Merry rhymes with berry (short vowel)
Mary rhymes with haaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiry (long vowel)
Simple!
Merry rhymes with berry (short vowel)
Mary rhymes with haaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiry (long vowel)
Simple!