Western and Central United States) and in all of Canada except Montreal. This is found in about 57% of American English speakers, according to a 2003 dialect survey. No merger, also known as a three-way contrast, exists in North America primarily in the Northeastern United States and is most clearly documented in the accents of Philadelphia, New York City, and Rhode Island; 17% of Americans have no merger. In the Philadelphia accent, the three-way contrast is preserved, but merry tends to be merged with Murray, and ferry can likewise be a homophone of furry (see merry–Murray merger below). The three-way contrast is found in about 17% of American English speakers overall. The Mary–marry merger is found alone, with 16% of American English speakers overall, particularly in the Northeast. The Mary–merry merger is found alone among Anglophones in Montreal and in the American South, with 9% of American English speakers overall, particularly in the East. The merry–marry merger is found alone rarely, with about 1% of American English speakers. In accents without the merger, Mary has the a sound of mare, marry has the "short a" sound of mat, and merry has the "short e" sound of met. In modern Received Pronunciation, they are pronounced as , , and ; in Australian English, as , , and ; in New York City English, as , , and ; and in Philadelphia English, the same as New York City except merry is . There is plenty of variance in the distribution of the merger, with expatriate communities of those speakers being formed all over the country. The Mary–merry merger is possible in New Zealand, and the quality of the merged vowel is then (similar to in General American). However, in New Zealand, the vowel in Mary often merges with the vowel instead (see near–square merger), which before intervocalic may then merge with and so Mary (phonemically ) can be or instead. In all of those cases, there is a clear distinction between Mary and merry (regardless of how both are pronounced) and marry (with the vowel) on the other. Merry–Murray merger The merry–Murray merger is a merger of and before . That is common in the Philadelphia accent, which does not usually have the marry–merry merger, but its "short a" , as in marry, is a distinct unmerged class before . Therefore, merry and Murray are pronounced the same, but marry is