Wedge and schwa

[Alison Murie]

>
>>

>> , "I can't help it, I'm a born lever-puller [Liverpooler]." For
> that pun to work, the BUT vowel needs to approximate northern [U].
>
> --Ben Zimmer
~~~~~~~~~~
It also depends on the pronunciation of the first vowel in /lever/. I
use the vowel in /get/, but many, if not most, people say "leaver."
OTOH, if the pen/pin merger comes in here (?) that would approximate
Liverpool even better.
AM

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