cot-caught merger
English
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "US" is not valid. See WT:LOL. IPA(key): /ˈkɑt kɔt ˌmɚd͡ʒɚ/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "US" is not valid. See WT:LOL. IPA(key): /ˈkɑt kɑt ˌmɚd͡ʒɚ/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL. IPA(key): /ˈkɒt kɔːt ˌmɜːd͡ʒə/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "NZ" is not valid. See WT:LOL. IPA(key): /ˈkɔt koːt ˌmɵːd͡ʒɘ/
Noun
cot-caught merger (uncountable)
- (phonology) A phonemic merger in some varieties of English (especially American and Canadian English) in which the vowels in words such as "hot" and "doll" (/ɒ/) and in words such as "law" and "talk" (/ɔː/) are pronounced identically, making the words "cot" and "caught" homophones.
- 2011, Scott F Kiesling, Linguistic Variation and Change, page 81:
- One was /au/-monophthongisation, described earlier in Chapter 2, while the second was the so-called low-back merger (LBM), also referred to as the cot–caught merger because words in these two classes are pronounced the same and speakers cannot hear any small differences in their pronunciation, even when they are present.