and tense variants of the happy vowel may be identified with the phonemes and respectively. They may also be considered to represent a neutralization between the two phonemes, although for speakers with the tense variant, there is the possibility of contrast in such pairs as taxis and taxes (see English phonology – vowels in unstressed syllables). considers the tensing to be a neutralization between and , while regards the tense variant in modern RP still as an allophone of on the basis that it is shorter and more resistant to diphthongization than . regards the phenomenon to be a mere substitution of for . Most modern British dictionaries represent the happy vowel with the symbol (distinct from both and ). This notation was first introduced in the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (1978) by its pronunciation editor, Gordon Walsh, and was later taken up by , who extended it to representing the weak vowel found word-medially in situation etc., and by some other dictionaries, including John C. Wells's Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (1990). In 2012, Wells wrote that the notation "seemed like a good idea at the time, but it clearly confuses a lot of people." criticizes the notation for causing "widespread belief in a specific 'happY vowel that "never existed". Merger of with and with Old English had the short vowel and long vowel , which were spelled orthographically with , contrasting with the short vowel and the long vowel , which were spelled orthographically with . By Middle English the two vowels and merged with and , leaving only the short-long pair . Modern spelling therefore uses both and for the modern KIT and PRICE vowels. Modern spelling with vs. is not an indicator of the Old English distinction between the four sounds, as spelling has been revised since after the merger occurred. After the merger occurred, the name of the letter acquired an initial [w] sound in it, to keep it distinct from the name of the letter . Additional mergers in Asian and African English The mitt–meet merger is a phenomenon occurring in Malaysian English and Singaporean English in which the phonemes and are both pronounced . As a result, pairs like mitt and meet, bit and beat, and bid and bead are homophones. The met–mat merger is a phenomenon occurring in Malaysian English, Singaporean English and Hong Kong English in which the phonemes and are both