pin-pen merger "ten minutes"

[Mars80]

I've seen some people with the pin-pen merger say on forums that when they try to speak without the merger that they make hypercorrections like lowering the first vowel in "minutes" when saying "ten minutes".

I have the merger, however I can speak without it without making any hypercorrections usually. Spelling is typically a good guide as to what words use what pronunciation in nonmerged speech. There's a few words like "friend" and "English" however.

[linguoboy]

I unlearned the merger via German. But I made the mistake of pronouncing Englisch with /ɪ/ rather than /ɛ/.

[Mars80]

I unlearned the merger via German. But I made the mistake of pronouncing Englisch with /ɪ/ rather than /ɛ/.

Common mistake for native English speakers to make when speaking German.

After I found out about the pin-pen merger and that most English speakers pronounce "pin" and "pen" differently, I consciously introduced the distinction in my speech and will at times use the nonmerged pronunciations, however usually inconsistently.

[linguoboy]

After I found out about the pin-pen merger and that most English speakers pronounce "pin" and "pen" differently, I consciously introduced the distinction in my speech and will at times use the nonmerged pronunciations, however usually inconsistently.

I tend to trot them out when I'm overarticulating, often for the benefit of non-native speakers.

[Dormouse559]

I'm mostly pen-pin merged, but there's a limited set of words that for some reason I pronounce with /ɛ/: friend, again, against, twenty, gentle. Those aren't overarticulations, just my normal pronunciations. Is it a broader phenomenon among those with the merger? When I sing, I consciously make the full distinction.