Thursday, September 27, 2018

Pin-Pen Merger

The pin-pen merger is common in the southeastern United States. Speakers who have the merger pronounce the words pin and pen identically. The two words are pronounced with the vowel of pin.

Other words which are pronounced the same in the pin-pen merger are the following:

den-din
gem-gym
hem-him
ten-tin
when-win

The pen-pin merger occurs before tautosyllabic nasals. In words such as desk and disk the merger does not apply. The pen-pin merger is an example of neutralization.

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