Merging
1.When a learner can’t hear or pronounce the di"erence between two similar sounds
in a new language, he/she may pronounce both sounds in the same way, so that
both of them sound like a familiar sound in his/her !rst language.
2.When a language originally has two separate sounds, but native speakers of the
language gradually start pronouncing the two sounds in the same way, the
di"erence between them can be lost. For example, the /w/ and /hw/ sounds in
English have merged for most speakers, and only /w/ is left.
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Index
Section 5 - The Vowels of American English
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