Schwa for de-emphasis

 

Schwa for de-emphasis

/ʌ/ and /ə/ are meddle center vowels, but their use is entirely different. /ʌ/ is used for a stressed sound, but /ə/, called schwa, is used for an unstressed sound. Schwa is created by the absence of any movement in the mouth. The tongue is relaxed. In other words, schwa is pronounced in the center middle of the mouth, where the pronunciation is the most economical. This explains why schwa is the most common sound in American English. In general, a vowel sound that is unstressed can be called schwa. Naturally, schwa does not have precise articulation. So, schwa can sound different since its actual pronunciation depends on the neighboring sound. For example, in “Rosa’s” vs “roses”, the ‘a’ in ‘Rosa's’ is an unstressed /ʌ/, but the ‘e’ in ‘roses’ is an unstressed /ɪ/. Despite this difference in auditory quality, both are viewed as the /ə/ sound.


How is it possible for a sound that has no clear manner of articulation to be the most common sound in English? To understand the use of schwa, we need to know that English is a stress-timed language, meaning that stressed sounds (or syllables) come in a regular interval. Stressed syllables are pronounced with emphasis. The sounds are loud, high pitched and often long. Also, its vowels have clear articulation. To make this emphasis even more salient, unstressed sounds are deemphasized and reduced. That is, unstressed sounds are spoken quietly, in a low-pitch, and fast. More importantly, the vowels of unstressed sounds generally become schwa. For example, consider the word ‘banana,’ which has a stress in the second syllable. The vowel of the second syllable is clearly articulated with /æ/. But the vowels or the first and the last syllables are reduced to schwa, resulting in the following pronunciation of the word: /bəˈnænə/. Truly, the rhythm of English is created thanks to schwa.


Since syllables with schwa are pronounced fast and in low-pitch, they can be hard to hear for non-native speakers. In fact, natives use the schwa sound to signal to the listener that the words with schwa are not the main point of the speech. For instance, when a new content word is introduced, a speaker will say the word clearly and loudly, but when mentioning the word again, the speaker will use schwa. There are two cases that require schwa: unstressed syllables in multisyllabic words, and the normal use of function words (that is, they are not used for emphasis or contrast). 

 Multisyllabic words

When a word has more than one syllable, not every syllable is given an equal emphasis when spoken. Only one syllable is stressed, and the rest are generally unstressed. The vowel sounds in unstressed syllables are usually reduced to schwa. Schwa allows unstressed syllables to occur more quickly in order to emphasize the sound of the stressed syllables. Schwa can happen with any vowel letters:


the a in about, again, vitamin

the e in synthesis, electric, celebrate

the i in decimal, president, experiment

the o in harmony, occur, condition

the u in medium, umbrella, support

the y in syringe

 

The schwa sound can be found in any position in a word:

in the beginning of a word as in about, ago, amazing

in the middle of a word as in elephant, gallon 

in the end of a word as in idea

Function words

The purpose of schwa is to reduce sound. This allows unstressed syllables to be said quickly so that the main beats of the speech can be placed on the stressed syllables. In speech, function words are usually reduced. Function words are words that indicate grammatical aspects, like tense or mood. Function words include auxiliary verbs, pronouns, articles, conjunctions and prepositions. In normal speech situations, we should reduce function words to keep the stress pattern regular. These are speech segments that require schwa.


a, an, the 

a chair, an apple, the table

am, are, is, was

am i?, how are you?, who is he?, I was singing

and, but

chicken and chips, it’s hard but I like it

than, or

I like it more than you do, coffee or tea

that, to

I told you that he was good, I’d like to see you

can, could

I can do it, I could do it

will, would, should

will it rain?, would you mind?, it should rain

in, on, of

It’s in the closet, it’s on the table, get out of here

for, with

I’m looking for a room, Come with me

have, has, had

I have a question, he has a problem, she had a pet

as, if

As soon as possible, I’ll go if you do




Comments