Phonological History of English Vowels - Vowel Changes Before Historic /l/

Vowel Changes Before Historic /l/

• The salary–celery merger is a conditioned merger of /æ/ and /e/ before /l/ occurring in New Zealand and Victorian (Australia) English.
• The fill–feel merger is a conditioned merger of /ɪ/ and /iː/ before /l/ occurring in some dialects of American English.
• The fell–fail merger is a conditioned merger of /ɛ/ and /eɪ/ before /l/ occurring in some varieties of Southern American English.
• The full–fool merger is a conditioned merger of /ʊ/ and /uː/ before /l/ mainly occurring the North Midland accent of American English.
• The vile–vial merger involves a partial or complete dephonemicization of schwa after a vowel and before coda /l/.
• Four other conditioned mergers before /l/ which require more study have been mentioned in the literature and are as follows.
  • /ʊl/ and /ol/ (bull vs. bowl)
  • /ʌl/ and /ɔl/ (hull vs. hall)
  • /ʊl/ and /ʌl/ (bull vs. hull)
  • /ʌl/ and /ol/ (hull vs. hole)