Phonetics

The schwa is the vowel sound in many lightly pronounced unaccented syllables in words of more than one syllable.It is sometimes signified by the pronunciation "uh" or symbolized by an upside-down rotated e. A schwa sound can be represented by any vowel. In the exercise below you can see some examples in common words:

Schwa in a

Schwa in e

Schwa in i

Schwa in o
Schwa in u

alarm /ə'lɑ:rm / ferocious /fə'rəʊʃəs/ family /'fæməli /
sailor /'seɪlə(r)/
circus /'sɜ:kəs/
By debsilver. C. Commons. By Sabbath P. C. Commons.
 By gruntzooki. C. Commons By T. Hawk. C. Commons
 By def110. C. Commons

 

alarm ferocious family sailor circus

 

Icono de iDevice Exercise

1) doctor 2) banana 3) protect

4) tomorrow 5) difficult 6) survive

7) summer 8) level 9) theatre

10) pupil 11) measure 12) wizard

Look at the words above and decide where in the word the schwa sound occurs.

Icono de iDevice AV - Reflexión
The upside-down e sound/symbol.
By Howcheng. Public domain.

The mid-central vowel sound (rounded or unrounded) in the middle of the vowel chart, stressed or unstressed. In IPA phonetic transcription, it is written as [ə]. In this case the term mid-central vowel may be used instead of schwa to avoid ambiguity.

 

Icono IDevice Pronunciation activity
Pronunciation activity

Beyoncé Giselle Knowles was born on September 4, in 1981. She is often referred professionally under the mononym Beyoncé. She is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, actress and model.
Beyoncé during The Beyoncé Experience tour in 2007.

By Mr Azed. Creative Commons.
 The song Halo, by Beyoncé (2008)

QUESTIONS:

1) How many of these words contain the sound schwa?

make / never / again / shut / grace/ light / awakened / forget / feel / even / know / doubt

2) Say where the sound schwa is in these words:

addicted / really / there / surround / away


Listen to the song and answer the questions above.


Icono de IDevice de pregunta Self-Assessment activity
Take into account what you have learnt about the schwa sound and decide where this sound is in these words:

This is real true love for the schwa vowel sound.
By schwa242. Creative Commons.

1) about

 

  
a) about
b) about

2) together
  
a) together
b) together

3) difference
  
a) difference
b) difference

Icono IDevice Important

Watch these videos about the vowel sound schwa.

You can listen to the explanations and then practice your pronunciation with the video on the left.

Besides, you can learn some differences in pronunciation with American English schwa with the video on the right.


Icono IDevice Further practice

You can remember the vowel sounds here. It is worth having a look.

This web page is very useful for learning the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) sounds. Use this phonetic chart to learn the sounds of English.

This is a fascinating place where you can read and learn a lot of interesting information related to the schwa sound.


« Anterior | Siguiente »