English

Noun

wine-whine merger ‎(plural wine-whine mergers)

1. (phonology) A merger in which ʍ] (the sound heard at the beginning of the word whine in a Scottish accent or several accents in the United States) becomes w] (the sound heard at the beginning of the word wine); in accents where this merger occurs, whine and wine are homophones.

See also

• wh labiodentalization

References

• Phonological history of wh on Wikipedia.Wikipedia