Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2025-05-10
The so-called “Lennon-Lenin” merger describes the merging of the historically distinct unstressed vowels at the end of those words. In the dialects that merge them some merge it to /I/ (including mine—using X-SAMPA I pronounce both as [“lEnIn]) while in others they’re merged to /@/ or /1/. Regardless of the vowel, there’s a merger of those sounds in some unstressed positions. I was curious so I did a Google search for the namesakes of the merger. I switched their last names in a Google search, typing “John Lenin” and “Vladimir Lennon,” and a lot of results popped up:
“Vladmir Lennon” 353,00 matches
“John Lenin” 4,800,000 matches
While you could argue such spellings are just mistakes based on the merger and not a true eggcorn, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that people are confusing two historical and very famous (if very different!) figures of the 20th century, especially due to the high volume of matches those searches turn up. People aren’t confusing the personas but if they’re merged speakers for that sound change they’re likely to know one of them is spelled “Lennon” and one “Lenin”—they just can’t remember which is which. Would this be considered a true eggcorn?
Last edited by Kirk (2006-07-04 22:07:35)
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