The Vowel Phoneme Mergers in English: Monophthong Phoneme Mergers in the British Isles

Abstract

This paper attempts to examine the monophthong phoneme merger phenomena across English accents spoken in the British Isles. The main purpose of the paper is four-fold: (1) to figure out which phoneme is involved in the mergers, (2) to find out which vowel emerges between the two target vowels after the merger, (3) to analyze the direction of mergers, and (4) to investigate the existence of the new form other than the two target vowels after the merger. It is shown that the mergers in the British Isles occur, not changing [high] and [round] feature, and they occur by local raising or fronting.