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Same or Distinct
State where you're from and say whether or not the following pair(s) are the same or distinct for you.
I'll start: North Carolina pin, pen - Same cot, caught - Same Mary, marry, merry - Same will, wheel - Same well, whale - Same
I myself am from Milwaukee, WI and have:
"pin" : ["p_hI~:n] "pen" : ["p_hE~:n] "cot" : ["k_ha?] "caught" : ["k_hQ?] "Mary", "marry", "merry" : ["me:Ri:] "will" : ["wI:M] "wheel" : ["wi:M] "well" : ["wE:M] "whale" : ["we:M] Just so no one asks what the stuff above means, it is phonetic transcription using X-SAMPA, which one can find more information about at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-SAMPA
California
pin, pen - Distinct cot, caught - Same Mary, marry, merry - Same will, wheel - Distinct well, whale - Distinct
Deep South, but not so deep I have to learn Spanish (yet)
pin, pen – Same definitely cot, caught - definitely not Mary, marry, merry - not (at least not to my ear, might sound the same to a yankee American) will, wheel – not, ditto well, whale – not, ditto Where in NC?
I'm from Ottawa, Canada and I have:
pin [pIn] or [pI~] pen [pEn] or [pE~] cot, caught [kA?] Mary, marry, merry [mE@r\i] will, wheel (usually both [wIo], but 'wheel' can be [wi.o] in more careful speech) well, whale (usually both [wEo], but 'whale can be [we.o] as above) It should be noted that for some Southern speakers for whom will/wheel and well/whale rhyme will still distinguish them by their first consonant.
Sorry about that last sentence. Should read:
It should be noted that for some Southern speakers for whom will/wheel and well/whale rhyme they are still distinguished by their first consonant.
Well, I'm from the Pacific Northwest, and like all other Westerners merry-marry-mary and cot-caught are the same. The rest are different. However, while "pin" and "pen" are quite clearly distinct [pIn], [pEn]; "win", and "when", are merged to [wIn].
I'm from Massachusetts and I have:
pin ["p_hIn] pen ["p_hEn] cot ["k_hQ:t] caught ["k_hQ:t] Mary ["mE@`i] marry ["m{r\i] merry ["mEr\i] will ["wI5] wheel ["wi5] well ["wE5] whale ["weI5]
Atlanta, Georgia.
pin, pen - Same /pIn/ cot, caught - Same /kAt/ Mary, marry, merry - Same /mE_rr\i/ will, wheel - Different /wIl/ vs. /wI_rl/ well, whale - Different /wEl/ vs. /wE_rl/ |