Are Mary, Marry, and Merry homonyms?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Option 4.

[SWE]

Mary has the same "a" sound as fairy.

Marry has the same "a" sound as Barry.

So, the same?

[RINO Tom]

All sound the same (Midwestern)

[Goldwater]

Mary has the same "a" sound as fairy.

Marry has the same "a" sound as Barry.

So, the same?

Yeah, sounds the same to me too...

[Intell]

Mary has the same "a" sound as fairy.

Marry has the same "a" sound as Barry.

So, the same?

Yeah, sounds the same to me too...

B-ary
F-e-ry

There is a clear difference.

[ilikeverin]

Yes (Midwesterner).  They are all /ɛ/.

Good luck to the people who answered anything other than Option 1 how the three vowels differ from each other.

FWIW, let me try:

"merry" like in "bed"
"Mary" like in "May"
"marry" like in "mad"

Now let's try explaining to the Southerners how "pen" and "pin" sound different, or to the Westerners how "cot" and "caught" sound different

[RINO Tom]

Yes (Midwesterner).  They are all /ɛ/.

Good luck to the people who answered anything other than Option 1 how the three vowels differ from each other.

FWIW, let me try:

"merry" like in "bed"
"Mary" like in "May"
"marry" like in "mad"

Now let's try explaining to the Southerners how "pen" and "pin" sound different, or to the Westerners how "cot" and "caught" sound different

In my native part of the Midwest (Peoria), the last two are absolutely pronounced the same, haha.  Not the pen/pin thing, though.

[Intell]

Yes (Midwesterner).  They are all /ɛ/.

Good luck to the people who answered anything other than Option 1 how the three vowels differ from each other.

FWIW, let me try:

"merry" like in "bed"
"Mary" like in "May"
"marry" like in "mad"

Now let's try explaining to the Southerners how "pen" and "pin" sound different, or to the Westerners how "cot" and "caught" sound different

Bed, May and May (e, ay and a) sounds all sound different.

[ilikeverin]

Yes (Midwesterner).  They are all /ɛ/.

Good luck to the people who answered anything other than Option 1 how the three vowels differ from each other.

FWIW, let me try:

"merry" like in "bed"
"Mary" like in "May"
"marry" like in "mad"

Now let's try explaining to the Southerners how "pen" and "pin" sound different, or to the Westerners how "cot" and "caught" sound different

In my native part of the Midwest (Peoria), the last two are absolutely pronounced the same, haha.  Not the pen/pin thing, though.

Yes, "Westerners" is a pretty loose grouping.  The cot-caught merger is starting to cross the Mississippi, although I'd've thought you wouldn't've had it in Peoria.  Also yinzers.  Yinzers should not understand the difference, either.

Yes (Midwesterner).  They are all /ɛ/.

Good luck to the people who answered anything other than Option 1 how the three vowels differ from each other.

FWIW, let me try:

"merry" like in "bed"
"Mary" like in "May"
"marry" like in "mad"

Now let's try explaining to the Southerners how "pen" and "pin" sound different, or to the Westerners how "cot" and "caught" sound different

Bed, May and May (e, ay and a) sounds all sound different.

Yes, they are different (for every English speaker to my knowledge - although exactly what they are realized as will differ from dialect to dialect).  But to people who don't merge, the ones that are unmerged within the context of Mary-marry-merry will sound something the vowels of May-mad-bed (respectively).  Meanwhile, people who do merge will sound like they're saying "merry" for all three of them (using the vowel of "bed").

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Mary has the same "a" sound as fairy.

Marry has the same "a" sound as Barry.

So, the same?

Yeah, sounds the same to me too...

B-ary
F-e-ry

There is a clear difference.

Not in America, mate

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Yes, at least where I'm from.  I don't think I've ever hear them pronounced differently.

[bedstuy]

Mary has the same "a" sound as fairy.

Marry has the same "a" sound as Barry.

So, the same?

Fairy has an "i."  So, it's pronounced fair-E, the word fair plus the y.

Barry doesn't have an "i." 

[RINO Tom]

I'm sure many people think Midwesterners have stupid accents (Illinoisans most definitely included), but I love reading through these types of threads.  We used to have neighbors from Long Island, and we couldn't help but crack up whenever they got mad because their accents would get even worse, and the only time we'd heard someone with that blatant of a NY accent was on SNL or something.  I chuckle every time I picture someone saying "Barry" how bedstuy seems to be "pronouncing" it.

[RI]

Mary has the same "a" sound as fairy.

Marry has the same "a" sound as Barry.

So, the same?

Fairy has an "i."  So, it's pronounced fair-E, the word fair plus the y.

Barry doesn't have an "i."  

Barry is pronounced bear-E, so they're the same. Having an "i" has very little to do with pronunciation.

[morgieb]

No. Though Mary and Merry sound kinda similar....which isn't wholly surprising given my accent.

[morgieb]

All three are the same- just like pen and pin

wtf, they sound quite different.

[bedstuy]

Mary has the same "a" sound as fairy.

Marry has the same "a" sound as Barry.

So, the same?

Fairy has an "i."  So, it's pronounced fair-E, the word fair plus the y.

Barry doesn't have an "i."  

Barry is pronounced bear-E, so they're the same. Having an "i" has very little to do with pronunciation.

No it isn't!
https://youtu.be/mtN9ar_BPY8?t=13


You pronounce, Barry, Carry, Larry, Marry, Harry the same way?  So, you call someone named Harry, "Hairy?"

[YL]

Yes, they are different (for every English speaker to my knowledge - although exactly what they are realized as will differ from dialect to dialect).  But to people who don't merge, the ones that are unmerged within the context of Mary-marry-merry will sound something the vowels of May-bed-mad (respectively).  Meanwhile, people who do merge will sound like they're saying "merry" for all three of them (using the vowel of "bed").

Not quite: the vowel in "Mary" is not that like the one in "May".  For British r-droppers, "mare" and "may" are different words with different vowels, neither has an /r/, and "Mary" is like the first.

(Also, you got "bed" and "mad" the wrong way round, but I presume that was a typo.)

Using the OED's symbols:
marry /'mari/ (cf mad /mad/)
Mary /'mɛːri/ (cf mare /mɛː/, May /meɪ/)
merry /'mɛri/ (cf bed /bɛd/)

[ilikeverin]

You pronounce, Barry, Carry, Larry, Marry, Harry the same way?  So, you call someone named Harry, "Hairy?"

Yes, that is precisely what everyone who checked the first option in the poll is saying.

Yes, they are different (for every English speaker to my knowledge - although exactly what they are realized as will differ from dialect to dialect).  But to people who don't merge, the ones that are unmerged within the context of Mary-marry-merry will sound something the vowels of May-bed-mad (respectively).  Meanwhile, people who do merge will sound like they're saying "merry" for all three of them (using the vowel of "bed").

Not quite: the vowel in "Mary" is not that like the one in "May".  For British r-droppers, "mare" and "may" are different words with different vowels, neither has an /r/, and "Mary" is like the first.

Ah!  I didn't see the "historical" before the "/eɪ/" in the Wikipedia article.  Thanks for the correction.

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That's accurate.

[RI]

You pronounce, Barry, Carry, Larry, Marry, Harry the same way?  So, you call someone named Harry, "Hairy?"

The only time I've heard Harry as pronounced as "Hay-ree" or "Hah-ree" or something like that was in Harry Potter. I've never heard an American pronounce it that way unless they were aping that.

[Goldwater]

You pronounce, Barry, Carry, Larry, Marry, Harry the same way?  So, you call someone named Harry, "Hairy?"

Yes.

[TDAS04]

Option 1.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

christ's sake guys, use vocaroo or something.

[angus]

I was having a discussion about enunciation the other day and it made me remember back when my high school acting coach tried to get me to clearly pronounce the differences between those words, something I found (and still find) completely baffling. Thoughts?

I reckon merry sounds different than the other two.  I tried to find a difference between Mary (as in, mother of god) and Marry (as in, I'll marry you if you're really a prince) and I couldn't find one, at least not in my mind's ear.  Seems reasonably, anyway.  Merry has a different vowel, and therefore a different sound, in the first syllable.  The only difference between mary and marry is a extra letter r, and I don't think English-speakers differentiate between r and rr.  (Arrayed sounds like "a raid" to me, for example.)

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

In any case, this thread is a perfect example why a fully simplified spelling reform for English is impossible. The  vowel differences between dialects prevent going to one symbol per vowel sound.

Tho that doesn't exkuze us from not simplifying konsonants. Fonic differenses between dialekts are small enuf that we koud uze just one karakter per konsonant sound. The only radical differense from exzizting konvenshuns that woud be useful is to do as some languages already do and uze 'c' for the 'ch' sound in curc if we cose to take advantage ov the fakt that we'd never use a plain 'c' otherwize if we simplified konsonants. Any kwestshuns?