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The PIN-PEN merger is a merger of the vowels /ɪ/ (KIT vowel) and /ɛ/ (DRESS vowel) before nasals [m n ŋ]. The resultant vowel is more raised and is closer to [ɪ]. Pin pen, him hem, kin ken are homophones for those who have this merger. Wikipedia says that this merger is commonly found in Southern American English, Midland region, in areas settled by migrants from Oklahoma and Texas who settled in the Western United States during the Dust Bowl and also AAVE.

I read a lot about this merger in different articles and websites and can't find any instance of merging imminent and eminent. I watched many Youtube videos (through Youglish), but of no use.

Imminent and eminent only differ in the initial vowel sound for most (if not all) speakers of General American and Southern Standard British English:

/ˈɪm.ɪ.nənt/ and /ˈem.ɪ.nənt/

The vowels are before a nasal consonant, so PIN PEN merger is most likely to take place in the areas I mentioned above.

Do those Americans who have PIN PEN merger also merge imminent and eminent?

Curious
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  • From the same link Examples of homophones resulting from the merger include pin– pen, kin–ken and him–hem. There's no mention of words beginning with the vowel sound, all the examples have a consonant in front of the vowel sound. – Mari-Lou A Dec 13 '20 at 12:25
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    Welcome to English Language & Usage. Congratulations on a well stated initial question; this is somewhat rare. While the vowel shift between pin and pen is regional pronunciation, the confusion of similar sounding words may be a different phenomenon. Many Americans would confuse immigrate and emigrate regardless of region. (The latter is somewhat rare in AmE.) – rajah9 Dec 13 '20 at 12:28
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    I asked one of my American friends who has this merger and they said they do merge imminent and eminent. – Decapitated Soul Dec 13 '20 at 13:49
  • The two words are relatively rare in the US, and generally they can be distinguished by context, so it's unsurprising that people do not commonly make an effort to pronounce them distinctly. – Hot Licks Dec 13 '20 at 13:59
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    Americans with the merger don't confuse any of these words. The only confusion is when talking to folks who don't. – Phil Sweet Dec 13 '20 at 16:02
  • I once worked with somebody who did not have the pin-pen merger but could not find immense in the dictionary to check the number of ms and the ending, because he was looking at the E section. – Henry Dec 13 '20 at 17:13
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    @PhilSweet: Of course they do. That's why they say stick pin and ink pin — so they don't confuse them. – Peter Shor Dec 13 '20 at 23:37

1 Answers1

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Yes, the initial vowels in imminent and eminent are most likely to merge to [ɪ] in most of the accents having the 'pin-pen merger'.

It mostly occurs in words where the vowel and the nasal are tautosyllabic—in the same syllable.

Before nasals, vowels are usually nasalised—the velum is lowered. The raised vowel probably results from the nasalisation of the vowel. This paper by Raymond Hickey says that the vowel of pen /ɛ/ is raised due to the raising effect of the following nasal. (tchrist seems to have nailed it in his answer to another question.)

According to this paper:

"Before m and n in the same syllable, e and i are pronounced exactly alike, empty, general, etc. being impty, gineral. The same applies to /ɛ/ written a in many."

[Evolution of the Merger of /I/ and /ε/ before Nasals in Tennesse — Vivian R. Brown]

According to the paper above, [ˈɛ̃mp.ti] is realised [ˈɪ̃mp.ti] (or perhaps [ˈĩmp.ti]—with [i]) which accounts for imminent/eminent.

Note, however, that this merger only goes from /ɛ/ to /ɪ/, not the other way around.

The Wikitionary page on 'imminent' gives a usage note, saying that imminent and eminent are weak rhymes. It further says that they become homophones in dialects with pin-pen merger.

This website (Self Gutenberg) also gives eminent and imminent as a homophonous pair in the dialects having pin-pen merger

And from Understanding English Language Variation in U.S. Schools:

The words eminent and imminent, which to most Southern English-speaking students sound the same, may also be similarly difficult.

Decapitated Soul
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    I have pin/pen merger. I literally can't hear the difference. But I hear the difference between imminent and eminent. – Joshua Dec 13 '20 at 20:59