a cot–caught merger, usually remains a back vowel, , sometimes showing lip rounding as . Therefore, even mainstream Americans vary greatly with this speech feature, with possibilities ranging from a full merger to no merger at all. A transitional stage of the merger is also common in scatterings throughout the United States, most consistently in the American Midlands lying between the historical dialect regions of the North and the South, while younger Americans, in general, tend to be transitioning toward the merger. According to a 2003 dialect survey carried out across the United States, about 61% of participants perceive themselves as keeping the two vowels distinct and 39% do not. A 2009 follow-up survey put the percentages at 58% non-merging speakers and 41% merging. in special words: The vowel, rather than the one in or (as in Britain), is used in function words and certain other words like was, of, from, what, everybody, nobody, somebody, anybody, and, for many speakers because and rarely even want, when stressed. Vowel mergers before intervocalic : The mergers of certain vowels before are typical throughout North America, the only exceptions existing primarily along the East Coast: Mary–marry–merry merger in transition: According to the 2003 dialect survey, nearly 57% of participants from around the country self-identified as merging the sounds (as in the first syllable of parish), (as in the first syllable of perish), and (as in pear or pair). The merger is already complete everywhere except along some areas of the Atlantic Coast. Hurry–furry merger: The pre- vowels in words like hurry and furry are merged in most American accents to . Only 10% of American English speakers acknowledge the distinct hurry vowel before , according to the same dialect survey aforementioned. Mirror–nearer merger in transition: The pre- vowels in words like mirror and nearer are merged or very similar in most American accents. The quality of the historic mirror vowel in the word miracle is quite variable. Americans vary slightly in their pronunciations of R-colored vowels such as those in and , which sometimes monophthongizes towards and or tensing towards and respectively. That causes pronunciations like for pair/pear and for peer/pier. Also, is often reduced to , so that cure, pure, and mature may all end with the sound , thus rhyming with blur and sir. The word sure is also part of the rhyming set as it is commonly pronounced . Yod-dropping: