Cot–caught merger

{{Short description|Sound change in some English dialects}} {{Use American English|date = March 2019}} {{DISPLAYTITLE:''Cot''–''caught'' merger}} {{listen | type = speech | header = '''Examples of a merged and an unmerged speaker of American English''' | filename = En-us-inlandnorth-cot-caught-unmerged.ogg | title = Non-merged speaker | description = {{IPA|[kʰäʔ]}} for ''cot'' and {{IPA|[kʰɔʔ]}} for ''caught'' | filename2 = En-us-caught.ogg | title2 = Merged speaker | description2 = {{IPA|[kʰɑt]}} for ''cot'' and ''caught'' alike }} {{IPA notice}} The '''''cot''–''caught'' merger''', also known as the '''{{sc2|LOT–THOUGHT}} merger''' or '''low back merger''', is a phonological phenomenon present in some dialects of English where speakers do not distinguish the vowel phonemes in words like ''cot'' versus ''caught''. ''Cot'' and ''caught'', along with ''bot'' and ''bought'', ''pond'' and ''pawned'', etc., are examples of minimal pairs that are lost as a result of this sound change; i.e. each of these pairs of words is pronounced the same. The phonemes involved in the ''cot''–''caught'' merger, the low back vowels, are typically represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet as {{IPA|/ɒ/}} and {{IPA|/ɔ/}} or, for United States English, as {{IPA|/ɑ/}} and {{IPA|/ɔ/}}.{{efn|Using the lexical sets conceived by linguist John C. Wells, the vowel in {{sc2|PALM}} is {{IPA|/ɑ/}}, in {{sc2|LOT}} is {{IPA|/ɒ/}}, and in {{sc2|THOUGHT}} is {{IPA|/ɔ/}}. Most of the U.S. already had a merger of the {{sc2|PALM}} and {{sc2|LOT}} vowels before the advent of the ''cot–caught'' merger, which further merges {{sc2|THOUGHT}}. However, a small number of U.S. accents, namely in northeastern New England (including Boston accents) merge {{sc2|LOT}} and {{sc2|THOUGHT}} while keeping {{sc2|PALM}} distinct.}} The merger is typical of most Indian, Canadian, and Scottish English dialects as well as some Irish and U.S. English dialects.

An additional vowel merger, the ''father''–''bother'' merger, which spread through North America in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, has resulted today in a three-way merger in which most Canadian and many U.S. accents have no vowel difference in words like {{sc2|PALM}} {{IPA|/ɑ/}}, {{sc2|LOT}} {{IPA|/ɒ/}}, and {{sc2|THOUGHT}} {{IPA|/ɔ/}}.

However, {{IPA|/ɔ/}} before {{IPA|/r/}} (as in {{sc2|NORTH}}) does not undergo the merger, participating in a separate phenomenon in most English dialects worldwide: the {{sc2|NORTH–FORCE}} merger, wherein for instance words like ''cord'' and ''cored'' are pronounced the same, while ''card'' is pronounced distinctly.{{efn|Thus, the vowel of {{IPA|/ɔr/}} can be phonemicized as the {{sc2|GOAT}} vowel,{{sfnp|Wells|1982|p=479}} and so this particular sequence is sometimes alternatively transcribed as {{IPA|/or/}}<ref>{{cite book | first = John S. | last = Kenyon | authorlink = John Samuel Kenyon | author2 = Thomas A. Knott | year = 1949 | orig-year = 1943 | title = A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English | publisher = G. & C. Merriam | location = Springfield, Mass. | isbn = 0-87779-047-7 | url = https://archive.org/details/pronouncingdicti00unse }}</ref> or {{IPA|/oʊr/}}.<ref>{{Dictionary.com|ore|date=2023}}</ref>}}

==Overview== {{IPA vowels|class=floatright}} The shift causes the vowel sound in words like ''cot'', ''nod'' and ''stock'' and the vowel sound in words like ''caught'', ''gnawed'' and ''stalk'' to merge into a single phoneme; therefore the pairs ''cot'' and ''caught'', ''stock'' and ''stalk'', ''nod'' and ''gnawed'' become perfect homophones, and ''shock'' and ''talk'', for example, become perfect rhymes. The ''cot''–''caught'' merger is completed in the following dialects: *Some English of the British Isles, outside of England: **Most Scottish English, towards {{IPAblink|ɔ|audio=y}}<ref name="autogenerated1982">{{harvnb|Wells|1982|p=?}}</ref> **Broad and traditional Irish English, towards {{IPAblink|a|audio=y}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hickey|first=Raymond|chapter=Irish English: Phonology|title=A Handbook of Varieties of English |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |date=2004 |isbn=3110175320 |editor1-last=Kortmann |editor1-first=Bernd |editor2-last=Schneider |editor2-first=Edgar W.|pages=90–94}}</ref> **Some northern Ulster English<ref name="autogenerated1982"/> including in conservative mid Ulster English towards {{IPAblink|ä|audio=y}} and in Ulster Scots English towards {{IPAblink|ɔ|audio=y}}<ref name="Heggarty">{{cite web|title=Accents of English from Around the World|editor=Heggarty, Paul |display-editors=etal |publisher=University of Edinburgh|year=2013|url=http://www.lel.ed.ac.uk/research/gsound/|access-date=2016-12-12}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Wells|1982|p=438}}</ref> *Much of the English of North America: **Certain varieties of American English, including:<ref name="Labov-cot-caught2" /> ***Pittsburgh English, towards {{IPA|[ɒ~ɔ]}} (with the ''father''–''bother'' merger)<ref name=gagnon>{{cite book|last=Gagnon|first=C. L.|title=Language attitudes in Pittsburgh: 'Pittsburghese' vs. standard English. Master's thesis|year=1999|publisher=University of Pittsburgh|location=Pittsburgh}}</ref> ***Much of New England English towards {{IPA|[ɑ~ɒ]}} (in Boston, particularly towards {{IPAblink|ɒ|audio=y}}), and Northern New England generally, but traditionally not Southern New England<ref name="Labov-cot-caught2">{{harvp|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|pp=60–1}}</ref> ***Western American English (with the ''father''–''bother'' merger)<ref name="Labov-cot-caught2" /> towards {{IPAblink|ɑ|audio=y}} *** Upper Midwestern English, Chicano English, and some Western New England English (with the ''father''–''bother'' merger) towards {{IPAblink|ä|audio=y}} **Nearly all Canadian English, including:<ref name="Labov-cot-caught1">{{harvp|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|p=218}}</ref> ***Standard Canadian English towards {{IPAblink|ɒ|audio=y}} (with the ''father''–''bother'' merger) ***Maritimer and Newfoundland English, towards {{IPA|[ɑ~ä]}} (with the ''father''–''bother'' merger) *Much Indian English towards {{IPAblink|ɔ}} or {{IPAblink|ɒ}}<ref>{{harvnb|Wells|1982|p=626}}</ref> *Some Singaporean English<ref>{{cite web|url=http://videoweb.nie.edu.sg/phonetic/papers/teach-sge.pdf |title=The Features of Singapore English Pronunciation |website=Videoweb.nie.edu.sg |year=1994 |access-date=2016-12-12}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" |+ class="nowrap" | Examples of homophonous pairs ! {{IPA|/ɑ/}} or {{IPA|/ɒ/}} ''(written a, o, ol)'' ! {{IPA|/ɔ/}} ''(written au, aw, al, ough)'' ! IPA (using {{angbr IPA|ɒ}} for the merged vowel) |- | bobble || bauble || {{IPA|ˈbɒbəl}} |- | body || bawdy || {{IPA|ˈbɒdi}} |- | bot || bought || {{IPA|ˈbɒt}} |- | box || balks || {{IPA|ˈbɒks}} |- | chock || chalk || {{IPA|ˈtʃɒk}} |- | clod || clawed || {{IPA|ˈklɒd}} |- | cock || caulk || {{IPA|ˈkɒk}} |- | cod || cawed || {{IPA|ˈkɒd}} |- | collar || caller || {{IPA|ˈkɒlə(r)}} |- | cot || caught || {{IPA|ˈkɒt}} |- | don || dawn || {{IPA|ˈdɒn}} |- | fond || fawned || {{IPA|ˈfɒnd}} |- | hock || hawk || {{IPA|ˈhɒk}} |- | holler || hauler || {{IPA|ˈhɒlə(r)}} |- | hottie || haughty || {{IPA|ˈhɒti}} |- | knot || nought || {{IPA|ˈnɒt}} |- | knotty || naughty || {{IPA|ˈnɒti}} |- | nod || gnawed || {{IPA|ˈnɒd}} |- | not || nought || {{IPA|ˈnɒt}} |- | odd || awed || {{IPA|ˈɒd}} |- | pod || pawed || {{IPA|ˈpɒd}} |- | pond || pawned || {{IPA|ˈpɒnd}} |- | rot || wrought || {{IPA|ˈrɒt}} |- | sod || sawed || {{IPA|ˈsɒd}} |- | sot || sought || {{IPA|ˈsɒt}} |- | stock || stalk || {{IPA|ˈstɒk}} |- | tot || taught || {{IPA|ˈtɒt}} |- | wok || walk || {{IPA|ˈwɒk}} |}

==North America== [[File:Cot-caught merger.png|thumb|upright=1.8|On this map of English-speaking North America, based on data from the 2006 ''Atlas of North American English'', the green dots represent speakers who have completely merged the vowels of ''cot'' and ''caught''. The dark blue dots represent speakers who have completely resisted the merger. The medium blue dots represent speakers with a partial merger (either production or perception but not both), and the yellow dots represent speakers with the merger in transition.<ref name="Labov, William et al. 122">{{Harvp|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|p=122}}</ref> ]] The presence of the merger and its absence are both found in many different regions of the North American continent, where it has been studied in greatest depth, and in both urban and rural environments. The symbols traditionally used to transcribe the vowels in the words ''cot'' and ''caught'' as spoken in American English are {{angbr IPA|ɑ}} and {{angbr IPA|ɔ}}, respectively, although their precise phonetic values may vary, as does the phonetic value of the merged vowel in the regions where the merger occurs.

Even without taking into account the mobility of the American population, the distribution of the merger is still complex; there are pockets of speakers with the merger in areas that lack it, and vice versa. There are areas where the merger has only partially occurred, or is in a state of transition. For example, based on research directed by William Labov (using telephone surveys) in the 1990s, younger speakers in Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas exhibited the merger while speakers older than 40 typically did not.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Gordon|2005}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/maps/Map1.html |title=Map 1 |website=Ling.upenn.edu |access-date=2016-12-12}}</ref> The 2003 Harvard Dialect Survey, in which subjects did not necessarily grow up in the place they identified as the source of their dialect features, indicates that there are speakers of both merging and contrast-preserving accents throughout the country, though the basic isoglosses are almost identical to those revealed by Labov's 1996 telephone survey. Both surveys indicate that, as of the 1990s, approximately 60% of American English speakers preserved the contrast, while approximately 40% merged the phonemes. Further complicating matters are speakers who merge the phonemes in some contexts but not others, or merge them when the words are spoken unstressed or casually but not when they are stressed.

Speakers with the merger in northeastern New England still maintain a phonemic distinction between a fronted and unrounded {{IPA|/ɑ/}} (phonetically {{IPAblink|ä}}) and a back and usually rounded {{IPA|/ɔ/}} (phonetically {{IPAblink|ɒ}}), because in northeastern New England (unlike in Canada and the Western United States), the ''cot''–''caught'' merger occurred without the ''father''–''bother'' merger. Thus, although northeastern New Englanders pronounce both ''cot'' and ''caught'' as {{IPA|[kɒt]}}, they pronounce ''cart'' as {{IPA|[kät]}}.

Labov et al. also reveal that, for about 15% of respondents, a specific {{IPA|/ɑ/}}–{{IPA|/ɔ/}} merger before {{IPA|/n/}} but not before {{IPA|/t/}} (or other consonants) is in effect, so that ''Don'' and ''dawn'' are homophonous, but ''cot'' and ''caught'' are not. In this case, a distinct vowel shift (which overlaps with the ''cot''–''caught'' merger for all speakers who have indeed completed the ''cot''–''caught'' merger) is taking place, identified as the '''''Don''–''dawn'' merger'''.<ref name="Labov-don-dawn">{{Harvp|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|p=217}}</ref>

===Resistance=== According to Labov, Ash, and Boberg,<ref>{{Harvp|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|pp=56–65}}</ref> the merger in North America is most strongly resisted in three regions: *The "Inland North", encompassing the eastern and central Great Lakes region (on the U.S. side of the border) *The "Northeast Corridor" along the Atlantic coast, ranging from Baltimore to Philadelphia to New York City to Providence. However, the merger is common in Boston and further northern New England. *The "South", somewhat excluding Texas and Florida.

In the three American regions above, sociolinguists have studied three phonetic shifts that can explain their resistance to the merger. The first is the fronting of {{IPA|/ɑ/}} found in the Inland North, in which the {{Sc2|LOT}} vowel {{IPA|/ɑ/}} is advanced as far as the cardinal {{IPA|[a]}} (the open front unrounded vowel), thus allowing the {{sc2|THOUGHT}} vowel {{IPA|/ɔ/}} to lower into the phonetic environment of {{IPA|[ɑ]}} without any merger taking place.<ref name="Labov 2006">{{Harvp|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|loc=chpt. 11}}</ref> The second situation is the raising of the {{Sc2|THOUGHT}} vowel {{IPA|/ɔ/}} found in Providence, New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, in which the vowel is raised and diphthongized to {{IPA|[ɔə⁓oə]}}, or, less commonly, {{IPA|[ʊə]}}, thus keeping that vowel notably distinct from the {{Sc2|LOT}} vowel {{IPA|/ɑ/}}.<ref name="Labov 2006"/> The third situation occurs in the South, in which vowel breaking results in {{IPA|/ɔ/}} being pronounced as upgliding {{IPA|[ɒʊ]}}, keeping it distinct from {{IPA|/ɑ/}}.<ref name="Labov 2006"/> None of these three phonetic shifts, however, is certain to preserve the contrast for all speakers in these regions. Some speakers in all three regions, particularly younger ones, are beginning to exhibit the merger despite the fact that each region's phonetics should theoretically block it.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Irons |first=Terry Lynn |date=April 25, 2007 |title=On the status of low back vowels in Kentucky English: More evidence of merger |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/language-variation-and-change/article/abs/on-the-status-of-low-back-vowels-in-kentucky-english-more-evidence-of-merger/068EA2C863270C13F5C6E01CB9DB8701 |journal=Language Variation and Change |language=en |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=137–180 |doi=10.1017/S0954394507070056 |issn=1469-8021|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Fox |first=Michael J. |article=The Structural Antagonism and Apparent-time Change of the Northern Cities Shift and the Low Back Vowel Merger in Northwestern Wisconsin |url=https://www.academia.edu/29687165|publisher=|title=New Ways of Analyzing Variation|year=2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Haddican |first1=Bill |last2=Johnson |first2=Daniel Ezra |last3=Newman |first3=Michael |last4=Kim |first4=Faith |date=2016 |title=The Diffusion of the Low Back Merger in New York City |url=http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/~whaddican/nwav-final.pdf}}</ref>

African-American Vernacular English accents have traditionally resisted the ''cot''–''caught'' merger, with {{sc|lot}} pronounced {{IPA|[ɑ̈]}} and {{sc|thought}} traditionally pronounced {{IPA|[ɒɔ]}}, though now often {{IPA|[ɒ~ɔə]}}. Early-2000s research has shown that this resistance may continue to be reinforced by the fronting of {{sc|lot}}, linked through a chain shift of vowels to the raising of the {{sc|trap}}, {{sc|dress}}, and perhaps {{sc|kit}} vowels. This chain shift is called the "African American Shift".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Thomas |first1=Erik R. |title=Phonological and Phonetic Characteristics of African American Vernacular English: Phonological and Phonetic Characteristics of AAVE |journal=Language and Linguistics Compass |date=September 2007 |volume=1 |issue=5 |pages=450–475 |doi=10.1111/j.1749-818X.2007.00029.x }}</ref> However, there is still evidence of AAVE speakers picking up the ''cot''–''caught'' merger in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,{{sfnp|Eberhardt|2008}} in Charleston, South Carolina,{{sfnp|Baranowski|2013}} in Florida and Georgia,{{sfnp|Jones|2020|p=165}} and in parts of California.{{sfnp|Jones|2020|p=165}}

===Origin=== In North America, the first evidence of the merger (or its initial conditions) comes from western Pennsylvania as far back as the data shows.<ref>Johnson, D. E., Durian, D., & Hickey, R. (2017). New England. Listening to the Past: Audio Records of Accents of English, 234. {{ISBN|978-1-1070-5157-7}}.</ref> From there, it entered Upper Canada (what is now Ontario). In the mid-19th century, the merger also independently began in eastern New England,<ref name="Johnson"/> possibly influencing the Canadian Maritimes, though the merger is in evidence as early as the 1830s in both regions of Canada: Ontario and the Maritimes.<ref name="Dollinger"/> Fifty years later, the merger "was already more established in Canada" than in its two U.S. places of origin.<ref name="Dollinger">{{cite journal |url = https://www.academia.edu/4006014 |title = Written sources of Canadian English: phonetic reconstruction and the low-back vowel merger |first = Stefan |last = Dollinger |website = Academia.edu |date = 2010 |access-date = 2016-03-19}}</ref> In Canadian English, further westward spread was completed more quickly than in English of the United States.

Two traditional theories of the merger's origins have been longstanding in linguistics: one group of scholars argues for an independent North American development, while others argue for contact-induced language change via Scots-Irish or Scottish immigrants to North America. In fact, both theories may be true but for different regions. The merger's appearance in western Pennsylvania is better explained as an effect of Scots-Irish settlement,<ref>Evanini, Keelan (2009). "[https://repository.upenn.edu/dissertations/AAI3405374 The permeability of dialect boundaries: A case study of the region surrounding Erie, Pennsylvania]". University of Pennsylvania; dissertations available from ProQuest''. AAI3405374. pp. 254–255.''</ref> but in eastern New England,<ref name="Johnson">Johnson, Daniel Ezra (2010). "Low Vowels of New England: History and Development". Publication of the American Dialect Society 95 (1): 13–41. {{doi|10.1215/-95-1-13}}. p. 40.</ref> and perhaps the American West,<ref>Grama, James; Kennedy, Robert (2019). "2. Dimensions of Variance and Contrast in the Low Back Merger and the Low-Back-Merger Shift". The Publication of the American Dialect Society. 104, p. 47.</ref> as an internal structural development. Canadian linguist Charles Boberg considers the issue unresolved.<ref>{{Cite book|title = The English language in Canada|last = Boberg|first = Charles|publisher = Cambridge|year = 2010|location = Cambridge|pages = 199?}}</ref> A third theory has been used to explain the merger's appearance specifically in northeastern Pennsylvania: an influx of Polish- and other Slavic-language speakers whose learner English failed to maintain the distinction.<ref>Herold, Ruth. (1990). "Mechanisms of merger: The implementation and distribution of the low back merger in eastern Pennsylvania". Doctoral dissertation, University of Pennsylvania.</ref>

==Scotland== Outside North America, another dialect featuring the merger is Scottish English, where the merged vowel has a quality around [ɔ̞].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=J. C. Wells: Accents of English |url=https://pdcrodas.webs.ull.es/variedades/WellsAccentsOfEnglish.htm |access-date=2026-05-04 |website=pdcrodas.webs.ull.es}}</ref> In Standard Scottish English, both the {{Sc2|LOT}} and {{Sc2|THOUGHT}} lexical sets are realized with the vowel {{IPA|/ɔ/}}, producing homophones such as "knotty" and "naughty", "don" and "dawn", and "not" and "nought".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Ruilan, Shaokang |first=Cao, Jin |title=Phonological Differences between Received Pronunciation and Standard Scottish English |url=https://www.atlantis-press.com/article/25889052.pdf}}</ref> Some speakers, however, do not apply the merger categorically: the opposition between the two lexical sets is less systematic than in RP, and {{IPA|/ɔ/}} may appear in certain {{Sc2|LOT}} words such as "yacht", "wash", "watch", and "squad" without the full merger being realized.<ref name=":0" /> Like in New England English, the "cot''"''–"caught''"'' merger in Scottish English occurred without the "father"–"bother" merger, meaning speakers retain a distinct {{IPA|/ɑ/}} vowel for the {{Sc2|PALM}} lexical set.<ref name=":1" /> Therefore, speakers still retain the distinction between {{IPA|/a/}} in {{sc2|PALM}} and {{IPA|/ɔ/}} in {{sc2|LOT–THOUGHT}}.{{sfnp|Wells|1982|p=399}}

== India == The merger is also quite prevalent in Indian English, possibly due to contact with Scottish English.{{cn|date=June 2025}} In particular, the {{Sc2|LOT}} vowel may be lengthened to merge with the {{Sc2|THOUGHT}} vowel {{IPA|/ɒː/}}.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Domange |first=Raphaël |date=2023 |title=The Vowels of Delhi English: Three studies in sociophonetics |url=https://su.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1751430/FULLTEXT01.pdf}}</ref> However, there are also speakers who maintain a distinction in length and/or quality.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fuchs |first=Robert |title=The Phonology of Indian English I: Overview |url=https://www.academia.edu/12507472 |year=2015|publisher=University of Münster}}</ref> Like in Scottish English, this vowel is not usually merged with {{Sc2|PALM}} {{IPA|/ɑː/}} in General Indian English.

==See also== * Low-Back-Merger Shift * Phonological history of English open back vowels

==Notes== {{Notelist}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Bibliography== *{{citation |last=Baranowski |first=Maciej |s2cid=2034660 |year=2013 |title=Ethnicity and Sound Change: African American English in Charleston, SC |journal=University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=1–10}} *{{citation |last=Eberhardt |first=Maeve |year=2008 |title=The Low-Back Merger in the Steel City: African American English in Pittsburgh |journal=American Speech |volume=83 |issue=3 |pages=284–311 |doi=10.1215/00031283-2008-021}} * {{citation |last=Gordon |first=Matthew J. |year=2005 |title=The Midwest Accent |work=American Varieties |publisher=PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarieties/midwest/ |access-date=August 29, 2010 }} * {{cite thesis |id={{ProQuest|2423437304}} |last1=Jones |first1=Taylor |title=Variation in African American English: The Great Migration and Regional Differentiation |date=1 January 2020 |url=https://www.languagejones.com/s/TaylorWJonesDissertation.pdf }} * {{cite book |last1=Labov |first1=William |author-link=William Labov |last2=Ash |first2=Sharon |last3=Boberg |first3=Charles |title=The Atlas of North American English: Phonetics, Phonology, and Sound Change: a Multimedia Reference Tool |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |year= 2006 |isbn=3-11-016746-8 |location=Berlin; New York |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qa4-dFqi6iMC }} * {{Accents of English|hide1=y|hide3=y|mode=cs2}}

==Further reading== * {{cite book |last=Barber |first=Charles Laurence |date=1997 |title=Early modern English |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Iat4Bk_YeR4C |edition=2nd |location=Edinburgh |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=0-7486-0835-4}}

==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20051207010932/http://cfprod01.imt.uwm.edu/Dept/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_28.html Map of the cot–caught merger from the 2003 Harvard Dialect Survey] * [http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/maps/Map1L.html Map of the cot–caught merger from Labov's 1996 telephone survey] * [http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/maps/Map1.html Description of the cot–caught merger in the Phonological Atlas] * [http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/maps/Map2.html Map of the cot–caught merger before {{IPA|/n/}} and {{IPA|/t/}}] * [http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/Atlas_chapters/Ch13_2nd.rev.pdf Chapter 13 of the ''Atlas of North American English''], which discusses the "short-o" configuration of various American accents

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cot-caught merger}} Category:English-language dialects Category:Splits and mergers in English phonology