As a TA at the University of Iowa, I once performed a magic trick for my
students. I wrote the words "merry," "marry," and "Mary" on the board,
turned my back to the board, and had one of the students point randomly
to one word after another. I asked the only student in the class from
New York to pronounce the word being pointed to (which I could not see).
I amazed the class by correctly spelling each word he pronounced (which
all sound the same to Midwestern ears).

 

In my (New York native) dialect there are four different and distinct
vowel sounds after the m's in the following sentence:

 

Merry Mary may remarry.

 

Phoneticians out there can correct me, but I think my pronunciation of
the vowels might be described as follows:

 

merry - lax mid front vowel, like the e in bet

may - tense mid front vowel, as in bay

marry - lax low front vowel, as most Americans (but not, say,
Chicagoans) pronounce back and cat

Mary - vowel between low front and mid front (the one many Chicagoans
use in back and cat). 

 

Midwesterners generally pronounce merry, marry, and Mary the way New
Yorkers pronounce Mary. 

 

Dick Veit

________________________________

Richard Veit
Department of English
University of North Carolina Wilmington

________________________________

From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Beth Scholler
Sent: Saturday, March 18, 2006 4:35 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Question: Language change and malapropism

 

Paul E. Doniger writes: 

 

" it's hard to hear the difference among the words, merry, marry, and
Mary (the all sound like merry). 

 

I'm from the midwest and they have always sounded alike, the meaning
being made clear in context. Lippi-Green also made the same reference,
but I'm curious--how are they "supposed" to sound? Or, perhaps it's
better to ask how other parts of the country pronounce them. 

 

Beth

lurking student and future English teacher


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