Schwa Handout 1

Key information about schwa

- According to pronunciation expert Adrian Halliday, the schwa is the do nothing
sound! It is a very English sound!
- The purpose of schwa is to allow unstressed syllables to be said more quickly
so the main beats of spoken words are easier to place on the stressed syllables.
- is a reduction of
- Schwa occurs in two different circumstances:

1. in an unstressed syllable of a multi-syllable word

2. as a reduced vowel sound in a function word

1. Schwa in an unstressed syllable

In words with more than one syllable, not every syllable is given equal emphasis
when spoken. Three levels of syllable stress are possible:

1. stressed

2. secondarily stressed

3. unstressed

Every multi-syllable word has a single stressed syllable. The single stressed
syllable of the word has the most emphasis. The remainder of the syllables may
have a secondary stress or may be unstressed.

The word emphasize has all the levels of stress. The first syllable is stressed, the
second syllable is an unstressed syllable pronounced as schwa, and the third
syllable has a secondary stress.

http://www.pronuncian.com/Lessons/default.aspx?Lesson=34
Schwa in nouns and verbs: stress pronunciation patterns in two-syllable
words
There is a general pattern that 2-syllable nouns are stressed on the first syllable,
and 2-syllable verbs are stressed on the second syllable. This general pattern
works for between 80% and 90% of the 2-syllable nouns and verbs in English.

Nouns:

Each noun below is stressed on the first syllable. The vowel sound of the second
syllable of these words is reduced to a very quick (schwa), no matter how that
vowel is spelled.

problem
wisdom
salad
custom
system
method
balance

Verbs:

Each verb is stressed on the second syllable.

provide
complete
observe
assume
succeed
agree
compare
contain

Schwa in nouns and verbs: stress pronunciation patterns in three-

syllable words

When we look at 3-syllable words, syllable stress gets a little more complicated.
First, there is obviously one more syllable where the stress can fall. Second,
schwa usually occurs next to the stressed syllable. This can cause schwa to
occur twice in one word. For example, the word banana is a 3-syllable word and
the stress is on the middle syllable. Both the first and third syllable
of banana are reduced to schwa.

Here are some other words with a pattern of schwa-main stress-schwa:

agenda
opponent
consistent

Now let's say we have a 3-syllable word with the stress falling on the first
syllable. Let's use the word emphasis as an example. Since the first syllable is
stressed (pronounced em), we can expect schwa to occur on the second syllable.
That syllable is reduced to a quick pha. But then what happens to the third
syllable? Because of the nature of the rhythm of English, we don't usually reduce
two syllables in a row. So the third syllable will not be stressed because the
stressed syllable is already taken, nor will it be reduced. Instead, it'll be
pronounced with what we call a secondary stress. Secondarily stressed syllables
are pronounced louder than unstressed syllables, but not as loudly as the
syllable with the main stress. Secondarily stressed syllables are also more likely
to be phonetic, meaning they will be pronounced closer to what the spelling
suggests. So the word emphasis, with the stress on the first syllable, a reduced
second syllable, and a secondarily stressed third syllable, is a nice, phonetic
word. Once we know where the stress is, the pronunciation of the rest of the
word falls into place.

Here are some other words with the pattern of main stress-schwa-secondary
stress:

positive
revenue
allocate

Of course, another possibility is that a 3-syllable word is stressed on the final

syllable. This again will allow us to predict that the middle syllable will be
reduced to schwa. Now the first syllable is likely to have a secondary stress.
Take the word volunteer: The third syllable is stressed. It's pronounced teer.
The middle syllable becomes a very quick (schwa). It is pronounced un. The first
syllable is pronounced with a short o sound, which is one of the pronunciations
we can guess if we know all the patterns for the letter o. So the first syllable is
pronounced vol. Putting that all together, we get volunteer.

Here are some other three-syllable words with a stress pattern of secondary
stress-schwa-main stress:

referee
recommend
kangaroo

2. Monosyllabic function words often unstressed as schwa

- articles (the/a), prepositions (to, for), auxiliaries (was, is, have, were, are etc), modal
verbs (would, could, can, should), conjunctions (and, so), relative pronoun (that), some
pronouns (her)
- One in five words in English is a function word

can /kn/ /kn/

do /du/ /d/

to /tu/ /t/

you /ju/ /j/

TEMPLATE 1: TELL HIM TO GO

Schwa- changes in vowel quality due to stress

Stressed vowel Reduced vowel

ball / bl/ balloon /blun/
fast /fst/ breakfast / brek.fst/
late /let/ chocolate /tk.lt/
table /te.bl/ vegetable /ved.t.bl/

TEMPLATE 2: JASON WAS AN EXCELLENT PHOTOGRAPHER