line-loin merger

English

Noun

line-loin merger

1. (phonology) The phonemic merger between the diphthongs /aɪ/ and /ɔɪ/ that occurs for speakers of Southern English English, Irish English, Newfoundland English, and Caribbean English making "line" and "loin" homophones.
   • 1991, Birch Moonwomon, Sound Change in San Francisco English, volume 1, page 57:

     The most frequently paraded example of apparent merger in English in the Labovian literature is the line—loin merger in Essex, England (see Labov, Yaeger, and Steiner 1972; Nunberg and Labov 1972; Nunberg 1980); the label stands for the coalescence of /oy/ and /ay/.