English Explanatory Dictionary

cot-caught merger

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A phonemic merger in some varieties of English (especially American, Canadian and Scottish 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.

Pronunciation

ʹkŏt kôt mûrjər /ˈkɑt kɔt ˌmɝd͡ʒɚ/ en-us-cot-caught merger (1).ogg /ˈkɑt kɑt ˌmɝd͡ʒɚ/ en-us-cot-caught merger (2).ogg /ˈkɒt kɔːt ˌmɜːd͡ʒə/ [ˈkɔt koːt ˌməːd͡ʒə] /ˈkɔt kɔt ˌmɛɾdʒəɾ/ /ˈkɔt koːt ˌmɜːd͡ʒə/ /ˈkɔt koːt ˌmøːd͡ʒɘ/

Word forms

cot-caught merger cot-caught mergers

Synonyms

low back merger

Related words

father-bother merger
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