wine-whine merger
Appearance
Pronunciation
[change]- (AU) IPA (key): /wɑenˈwɑen ˌmɜːdʒə(r)/
- (UK) IPA (key): /waɪnˈwaɪn ˌmɜːdʒə(r)/
- (NZ) IPA (key): /wɒenˈwɒen ˌmɵːdʒɘ(r)/
- (US) IPA (key): /waɪnˈʍaɪn ˌmɝdʒɚ/
- (US) IPA (key): /waɪnˈwaɪn ˌmɝdʒɚ/
- Hyphenation: wine‧whine‧mer‧ger
Proper noun
[change]
Proper noun |
- (phonology) Wine-whine merger is a merger in which IPA (key): [ʍ] (the voiceless sound heard at the beginning of the word whine in a Scottish accent or several accents in the United States) becomes IPA (key): [w] (the sound heard at the beginning of the word wine); in accents where this merger occurs, whine and wine are homophones.