Vowels followed by /r/ 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).Vaux, Bert and Scott Golder (2003). "How do you pronounce Mary / merry / marry?" The Harvard Dialect Survey. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Linguistics Department. The merger is largely complete in most regions of the country, the major exceptions being much of the Atlantic Coast and southern Louisiana. Hurry–furry merger: The pre- vowels in words like hurry and furry are merged in most American accents to or a syllabic consonant . Roughly only 10% of American English speakers acknowledge the distinct hurry vowel before , according to the same dialect survey aforementioned.Vaux, Bert and Scott Golder (2003). "flourish ". The Harvard Dialect Survey. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Linguistics Department. 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.Vaux, Bert and Scott Golder (2003). "the first vowel in "miracle"". The Harvard Dialect Survey. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Linguistics Department. 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 . Horse–hoarse merger: This merger makes the vowels and before homophones, with homophonous pairs like horse/hoarse, corps/core, for/four, morning/mourning, war/wore, etc. homophones. Many older varieties of American English still keep the sets of words distinct, particularly in the extreme Northeast, the South (especially along the Gulf Coast), and the central Midlands, but the merger is evidently spreading and younger Americans rarely show the distinction. This merger is also found in most modern varieties of British English. "Short o" before r before a vowel: In typical North American accents (both U.S. and Canada), the historical sequence (a short o sound followed by r and then another vowel, as in orange, forest, moral, and warrant) is realized as , thus further merging with the already-merged (horse–hoarse) set. In the U.S., a small number of words (namely, tomow, sy, sow, bow, and mow) usually contain the sound instead and thus merge with the set (thus, sorry and sari become homophones, both rhyming with starry).
Vowels followed by /r/ 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).Vaux, Bert and Scott Golder (2003). "How do you pronounce Mary / merry / marry?" The Harvard Dialect Survey. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Linguistics Department. The merger is largely complete in most regions of the country, the major exceptions being much of the Atlantic Coast and southern Louisiana. Hurry–furry merger: The pre- vowels in words like hurry and furry are merged in most American accents to or a syllabic consonant . Roughly only 10% of American English speakers acknowledge the distinct hurry vowel before , according to the same dialect survey aforementioned.Vaux, Bert and Scott Golder (2003). "flourish ". The Harvard Dialect Survey. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Linguistics Department. 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.Vaux, Bert and Scott Golder (2003). "the first vowel in "miracle"". The Harvard Dialect Survey. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Linguistics Department. Americans vary slightly in their pronunciations of R-colored vowels such as those in and , which sometimes monophthongizes towards and or tensing t.owards 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 . Horse–hoarse merger: This merger makes the vowels and before homophones, with homophonous pairs like horse/hoarse, corps/core, for/four, morning/mourning, war/wore, etc. homophones. Many older varieties of American English still keep the sets of words distinct, particularly in the extreme Northeast, the South (especially along the Gulf Coast), and the central Midlands, but the merger is evidently spreading and younger Americans rarely show the distinction. This merger is also found in most modern varieties of British English. "Short o" before r before a vowel: In typical North American accents (both U.S. and Canada), the historical sequence (a short o sound followed by r and then another vowel, as in orange, forest, moral, and warrant) is realized as , thus further merging with the already-merged (horse–hoarse) set In the U.S., a small number of words (namely, tomow, sy, sow, bow, and mow) usually contain the sound instead and thus merge with the set (thus, sorry and sari become homophones, both rhyming with starry).