It depends on the dialect, as it relies on the weak vowel merge. Basically: if “John Lenin” and “Vladimir Lennon” sound right for you, you got that merge.
For those who find them to sound the same, the second vowel should be around [ə]. For those who distinguish them, “caret” should have [ɪ] and “carrot” [ə].
I’ve never heard someone conflating caret and carrot before, but I’ll be calling these carrot from now on. That’s so funny.
It’s not even pronounced the same!
How do you pronounce them?
It depends on the dialect, as it relies on the weak vowel merge. Basically: if “John Lenin” and “Vladimir Lennon” sound right for you, you got that merge.
For those who find them to sound the same, the second vowel should be around [ə]. For those who distinguish them, “caret” should have [ɪ] and “carrot” [ə].
It’s not?
E and o are actually different letters.