schwa

SCHWA /ə/

The schwa sound /ə/ is the most common vowel sound in English; about one in three vowels a native speaker pronounces. It has a neutral mouth position, it only appears on unstressed syllables, and it can be spelt with any vowel letter.

How to Pronounce a Schwa Sound

1. The mouth position for /ə/ is neutral – the lips are relaxed, not rounded, the jaw is roughly half way open, and the tongue is flat, not forward or back. It is very similar to the long thinking vowel sound /ɜː/ as in BIRD, but it is always weak, so it’s short and soft.

Schwas in Content Words

The schwa is found in unstressed syllables of content words: MACHINE, SOLDIER, CORRUPT, PURSUE, and you’ll notice that on these syllables, the spelling is any of a, e, o, u, making it hard to spot a schwa on spelling alone. It helps to know where the stress in the word is – a schwa is never on the stressed syllable –

Schwas we don’t Pronounce

In some word endings containing the sounds /m,n,l/ like FATHOM, PASSION or LITTLE, the schwa sound can be omitted, leaving a syllable without a vowel sound – known as a syllabic consonant. Omitting a schwa also tends to happen before /r/ in words like CAMERA, DICTIONARY and HISTORY, which would be /ˈkamərə/, /ˈdɪkʃənəri/, and /ˈhɪstəri/ in slower speech.

Linking Schwas with /r/

When a word ends in a schwa sound and the following word begins with any vowel sound, most GB speakers will join the words with /r/: MOTHER_AND SON, FURTHER_AWAY, this is known as ‘linking r’. This will even occur where there is no ‘r’ in the spelling: BANANA_AND APPLE, ANNA_EDWARDS.

If you’ve got this far in your learning, you’ll know by now that the schwa is pretty ubiquitous. So it’s important to know where, when and how to pronounce it both for accurate pronunciation and correct stress. If you want some practice, try reading this article with a schwa in all the right places!