Editing General American English (section)

====Unrounded {{Sc2|LOT}}====
The American phenomenon of the {{Sc2|LOT}} vowel (often spelled {{angbr|o}} in words like ''box, don, clock, notch, pot,'' etc.) being produced without [[rounded vowel|rounded lips]], like the {{Sc2|PALM}} vowel, allows the two vowels to unify as a single [[phoneme]]. A consequence is that some words, like ''father'' and ''bother'', rhyme for most Americans. This [[Phonological history of the low back vowels#Father–bother merger|''father-bother'' merger]] is widespread throughout the country, except in northeastern [[New England English]] (such as the [[Boston accent]]), the [[Western Pennsylvania English|Pittsburgh accent]], and variably in some older [[New York accent]]s, which may retain a rounded articulation of ''bother'', keeping it distinct from ''father''.{{sfn|Wells|1982|pp=136–37, 203–6, 234, 245–47, 339–40, 400, 419, 443, 576}}<!-- Wells 1982: 245–47 -->{{sfn|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|p=171}}