The short vowels NEAR, SQUARE

The NEAR and SQUARE diphthongs are undergoing merger in New Zealand English, and many young speakers not only fail to distinguish the two in production but also have difficulty perceiving the distinction. There is some debate as to the direction of the merger, but the consensus appears to be that it is towards a close variant, . Monophthongal vowels are produced by some speakers, especially before /l/ and /r/, resulting in the neutralization of FLEECE and NEAR in this position, and also therefore of FLEECE and SQUARE for speakers who merge NEAR and SQUARE. Word pairs like merry and Mary are as a result distinguished largely by vowel length.