Phonological Merger Meets Resistance: Diffusion, Divergence, and Convergence in East Anglia

The MOAN–MOWN merger (i.e., the merger of the Middle English sources of GOAT) is an ongoing sound change in Lowestoft English, a variety of East Anglian English spoken at the intersection of the region’s northern and southern sub-zones. This study examines the merger’s progress across three generations in apparent time, using 2615 tokens of spontaneous and word list speech—analyzed dynamically with generalized additive mixed models—alongside perception data from a binary forced-choice identification task. The analysis addresses how phonemic mergers diffuse into areas of stable resistance and whether the target vowel in Lowestoft assimilates to southeastern British varieties where moan and mown are merged under goat . Results suggest a gradual merger by approximation, progressing via incremental stages with different intergenerational targets of assimilation. Change is linked to demographic shifts following the collapse of Lowestoft’s fishing industry, but the merger’s diffusion differs from that of other mergers triggered by social change into areas of resistance, both in terms of mechanism and timeframe. The diffusion of goat fronting is reported, affecting both moan and mown where a contrast is maintained, without a loss of distinction in perception. This demonstrates how phonetic diffusion can operate, despite differences in phonological structure between donor and recipient varieties. However, mown lags behind moan , highlighting how local divergence can accompany long-term convergence toward supra-local norms.