nurse merger

noun
/ˈnɚs ˌmɚd͡ʒɚ/US/ˈnɜːs ˌmɜːd͡ʒə/UK/ˈnɵːs ˌmɵːd͡ʒɘ/

Definitions

  1. A phonemic merger occuring in most present accents of English where historic /ɛr/, /ɪr/,…

    A phonemic merger occuring in most present accents of English where historic /ɛr/, /ɪr/, /ʊr~ʌr/ are pronounced identically.

    • Levelling of ME /irC/ and /urC/, which Orton assumes for the whole of the North (S. Durham §§411-13), has not taken place in Dent and S.We, where ME /urC/ remains (4:46).
    • In most Scottish accents the nurse merger has not occured, or has only partially occurred.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for nurse merger. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA