The Vowels Of American English Page 12

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symbol /ə/ (called schwa). It is a sound that, for most speakers of American English, is very
similar to /ʌ/: a mid-central, lax, unrounded vowel. When saying /ə/, the tongue sits in a
relaxed position in the middle of the mouth. (The difference between these the symbols /ʌ/
and /ə/is that /ʌ/ is customarily used to represent a vowel in a stressed syllable, and /ə/ is
used to represent only an unstressed vowel.) Because it is found in so many unstressed
syllables, and because there are more unstressed syllables than stressed syllables, /ə/ is the
most common vowel sound in English.
The table below shows some examples of vowel sounds in unstressed syllables. The first
column lists the vowels most commonly found in unstressed syllables; the examples in the
right-hand column show less common vowels in unstressed syllables.
Vowels in unstressed syllables
More Common Unstressed Vowels
Less Common Unstressed Vowels
Vowel
Examples
Vowel
Examples
/ə/
sófa,
glásses, abóut
/ey/
maintáin, rótate
/ɚ/
wáter,
curtáil, órderly
/ɛ/
Septémber, medicátion
/ɪ/
músic, vánish, inténse
/ᴜ/
chíldhood, hándbook
/iy/
cíty, háppy,
twéntieth
/ay/
librárian, citátion
/ow/
shádow,
hotél,
piáno
/aw/
éyebrow, outsíde
/uw/
ménu,
usúrp,
vénue
/oy/
hárd-boiled, exploitátion
Vowels and consonants: A blurry line
In looking at vowels and consonants, we’ve seen something surprising: The differences
between vowels and consonants are not as clear-cut as we might imagine, and some sounds
can have qualities of both. For example, we’ve seen that a few consonants (/n/, /r/, and
/l/) can also be used as the “heart” of syllables when they become vowel-like syllabic
consonants. They’re consonants, but they function as vowels. Also, the consonant /r/ and
the vowel /ɚ/ are actually the same sound—the difference is in duration and function
within a syllable. Finally, the glides /w/ and /y/ are used as consonants in words like win
and yes, but they can also be the final part of the diphthongs /ay/, /aw/, and /oy/. Like
many rules and categories in language, the boundary between vowels and consonants is a
little blurry.
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