English Explanatory Dictionary

weak vowel merger

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A phenomenon found in English pronunciation where the phonemes /ə/ (schwa) and /ɪ/ (the near-close near-front unrounded vowel) are not distinguished from eachother when unstressed, with the resulting ambiguous phoneme represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɨ/ (a close central rounded vowel).
  2. An instance of this merger in a specific usage or pronunciation of a word or phrase.

Pronunciation

/ˈwik ˈvaʊ.əl ˌmɝ.d͡ʒɚ/

Word forms

weak vowel merger the weak vowel merger weak vowel mergers

Etymology

Because the two "weak" vowels, /ə/ and /ɪ/, which are often found at the end of non-ultimately-stressed words, are not distinguished.

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