From: "John Cowan"
> Roger Mills wrote:
> > Similar neutralization before /r/ seems to be characteristic of most
General
> > Midwestern speech, maybe all American except Southern(?).
> No, I have the Mary/marry/merry distinction, and I was born north of
Macey-Dixie.
> I think this isogloss encloses the Eastern Seaboard as well as the South.
I think I've got a two-way distinction between Mary/merry vs. marry. Mary
Poppins and Merry Christmas sound the same in my idiolect. Though I hail
from Boston ('burbs), I don't have the accent, which I attribute to being
part of the TV generation. Still, "I'll have a Bloody Mary." sounds a little
different from "Have a Merry Christmas." /E:/ vs. /E/? A big three-way
distinction sounds very New York to me.
Kou