Other sound change processes are merger, split, loss, syncope, apocope,
Other sound change processes are merger, split, loss, syncope, apocope,
prothesis, and epenthesis. Merger and split can be
seen as the mirror image of each other. A merger that is currently
expanding over much of the United States is the merger between "short
o" and "long open o". The following table contains examples
of words that you probably pronounce differently if you are from the Philadelphia
that the vowels in these pairs sound the same, rather than different.