The Low-Back-Merger Shift is a chain shift of vowel sounds found in several dialects of North American English, beginning in the last quarter of the 20th...

and transcription delimiters. The cot–caught merger, also known as the LOT–THOUGHT merger or low back merger, is a sound change present in some dialects...

influenced by the Great Vowel Shift, as well as more recent developments in some dialects such as the cot–caught merger. In the Old English vowel system...

the weak vowel merger (with affected and effected often pronounced the same), at least one of the LOT vowel mergers (the LOT–PALM merger is completed among...

defined by the cot–caught merger to [ɒ] and an accompanying chain shift of vowel sounds, which is called the Canadian Shift. A subset of the dialect geographically...

and the DRESS vowel in a chain shift most associated with California and led by young women. This low back merger shift, too, is documented in mainland...

younger speakers within the Inland North seem to be moving back away from the Northern Cities Shift of front lax vowels that were rising. Accents that have...

a following nasal does. In Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Central Canada, a merger of /æ/ with /eɪ/ before /ɡ/ has been reported, making, for example, haggle...

reversed in most British English, simultaneously shifts this relatively recent CLOTH set into a merger with the THOUGHT (caught) set. Having taken place...

can shift their pronunciation without changing diaphonemes due to lexical diffusion. The near–square merger or cheer–chair merger is the merger of the...