Schwa: Difference between revisions
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imported>Ro Thorpe m (natural > weak, more accurate) |
imported>Ro Thorpe (Russian -o) |
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Some languages have more than one schwa. In addition to the English one, [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] has '''ɐ''', which, as its 'a'-like symbol implies, is a little more open. | Some languages have more than one schwa. In addition to the English one, [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] has '''ɐ''', which, as its 'a'-like symbol implies, is a little more open. | ||
Russian final ''o'' is pronounced schwa, a fact almost never reflected in English. | |||
==Notes== | ==Notes== | ||
{{Reflist}} | {{Reflist}} | ||
Revision as of 12:43, 22 August 2008
Schwa[1] is the name linguists use for the most neutral of vowel sounds, the gentle grunt of the first syllable of 'uh huh', the usual, weak, pronunciation of the indefinite article 'a'. Its phonetic symbol is ə.
In English, it can be represented by a number of vowel-letters: it is the u in 'careful', the e in 'worker', the 'a' in above' and the 'o' in 'person'.
Some languages have more than one schwa. In addition to the English one, Portuguese has ɐ, which, as its 'a'-like symbol implies, is a little more open.
Russian final o is pronounced schwa, a fact almost never reflected in English.