Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
merry, marry, Mary
In Midland and some other regional dialects these three words are homophones pronounced MER-ee. In some other dialect areas (Eastern New England, Metropolitan New York, and some areas farther down the eastern seaboard), some people pronounce marry MA-ree and distinguish it from their pronunciation of merry (MER-ee). And some speakers in the Lower Hudson Valley, in Eastern New England, and especially in Southern dialect areas further distinguish Mary (pronounced MAI-ree) from the distinctive pronunciations of either or both merry and marry. In these dialects, the same sorts of divided pronunciations usually can be heard in Kerry/carry and Perry/parry. Some Americans have difficulty hearing the pronunciations they themselves do not use, but it doesn’t matter: you may use one pronunciation for all or distinguish Mary or marry from the other two, whichever seems natural to you. All are Standard regional variations.
