The Schwa Vowel Sound
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Schwa : A mid central vowel /ə/ often used in an unstress
ed syllable .
Schwa is the Most Common Sound in Spoken English
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@g_englishLinguistic research indicates that the most common sound in spoken English is the schwa vowel sound.
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@g_englishThe phonetic symbol for schwa is /ə/.
Schwa sounds like “uh”.
Why is schwa the most common sound?
The schwa is the most common sound because any vowel can have a schwa sound.
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@g_englishNative speakers of English use the schwa sound to pronounce vowels in reduced syllables.
Spoken English has a lot of reduced syllables…there’s a reduced syllable in most multisyllabic words.
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@g_englishThat means we use əllodə schwa sounds when we speak!
Example of how we use schwa
Here is an example of how American English speakers use the schwa /ə/ sound.
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@g_englishLet’s take my name… Susan…
When I say Susan the first syllable is stressed. The /uw/ has a long clear sound.
The letter a in the second syllable is reduced. That “a” has a schwa sound. It sounds like “uh”.
Phonetic symbols
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@g_englishUsing phonetic symbols my name looks like: ‘su:zən.
When I teach my accent reduction coaching clients about the schwa sound, I type my name like this: Suw→zǝn.
Learn to use schwa
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@g_englishThe schwa sound occurs in almost every word!
That’s why it’s the most common sound in English (even though most people have never heard of it).
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@g_englishYou simply must learn to use the schwa vowel sound if you REALLY want to reduce your accent!
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@g_english#Jafar_Ghaffari
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