Mid central vowel

Mid central vowel
ə
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The mid central vowel, or schwa is a sound used in some spoken languages. It is in English, in words like about, potato and support.

Characteristics

  • The vowel height is mid, which means the jaw is in the middle.
  • The vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned in the front and back together.

Examples

Language WordIPAMeaningNotes
Albanian një [ɲə] 'one'
AfrikaansStandard[1]lig[ləχ]'light'Also described as open-mid [ɜ].[2] See Afrikaans phonology
Many speakers[1]lug'air'Many speakers merge /œ/ with /ə/, even in formal speech.[1] See Afrikaans phonology
ArabicDamascene كرمال [kɪɾ.məːl] 'for the sake of' Realized as /a/ by some speakers.
Bhojpuri कर [kər] 'to do'
CatalanBalearicsec[ˈsək]'dry'Stressable schwa that corresponds to the open-mid [ɛ] in Eastern dialects and the close-mid [e] in Western dialects. See Catalan phonology
Eastern[3]amb[əm(b)]'with'Reduced vowel. The exact height, backness and rounding are variable.[4] See Catalan phonology
Some Western accents[5]
Chinese Hokkienlêr (螺)[lə˨˦]'snail'
Mandarin 根/gēn [kən˥]ⓘ 'root' See Standard Chinese phonology
Chuvashăман[əm'an]'worm'
DanishStandard[6][7]hoppe[ˈhʌ̹pə]'mare'Sometimes realized as rounded [ə̹].[8] See Danish phonology
DutchStandard[9]renner[ˈrɛnər]'runner'The backness varies between near-front and central, whereas the height varies between close-mid and open-mid. Many speakers feel that this vowel is simply an unstressed allophone of /ʏ/.[9] See Dutch phonology
EnglishMost dialects[10][11]arena[əˈɹiːnə]'arena'Reduced vowel; varies in height between close-mid and open-mid. Word-final /ə/ can be as low as [ɐ].[10][11] See English phonology
Cultivated South African[12]bird[bə̞ːd]'bird'May be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɜː⟩. Other South African varieties use a higher, more front and rounded vowel [øː~ ø̈ː]. See South African English phonology
Norfolk[13]
Received Pronunciation[14]Often transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɜː⟩. It is sulcalized, which means the tongue is grooved like in [ɹ]. 'Upper Crust RP' speakers pronounce a near-open vowel [ɐː], but for some other speakers it may actually be open-mid [ɜː]. This vowel corresponds to rhotacized [ɝ] in rhotic dialects.
Geordie[15]bust[bəst]'bust'Spoken by some middle class speakers, mostly female; other speakers use [ʊ]. Corresponds to /ɜ/ or /ʌ/ in other dialects.
Indian[16]May be lower. Some Indian varieties merge /ɜ/ or /ʌ/ with /ə/ like Welsh English.
Wales[17]May also be further back; it corresponds to /ɜ/ or /ʌ/ in other dialects.
Yorkshire[18]Middle class pronunciation. Other speakers use [ʊ]. Corresponds to /ɜ/ or /ʌ/ in other dialects.
FaroeseTórshavnvátur[ˈvɔaːtəɹ]'yellow'See Faroese phonology
Northeastern dialects[ˈvaːtəɹ]
Galician Some dialects leite [ˈlejtə] 'milk' Alternative realization of final unstressed /e/ or /ɛ/ (normally [i~ɪ~e̝])
fenecer [fənəˈs̪eɾ] 'to die' Alternative realization of unstressed /e/ or /ɛ/ in any position
GermanStandard[19]Beschlag[b̥əˈʃläːk]ⓘ'fitting'See Standard German phonology
Southern German accents[20]oder[ˈoːdə]'or'Used instead of [ɐ].[20] See Standard German phonology
Georgian[21] დგას/dgas [dəɡas] 1st person singular 'to stand' Phonetically inserted to break up consonant clusters. See Georgian phonology
HindustaniHindiहमसफ़र(hamsafar)['ɦəm.sə.fəɾ]ⓘ'travelling companion', 'sweetheart', 'darling' or 'lover'See Hindustani phonology.
Urduہمسفر(hamsafar)
Indonesian berat [bə.rat] 'heavy' See Malay phonology
Kashmiri کٔژ [kət͡s] 'how many'
Kashubian Kaszëbë [kaʃəbə] 'Kashubia'
Kensiu[22][təh]'to be bald'Contrasts with a rhotacized close-mid [ɚ̝].[22]
Khanty[23] аԓәӈ [aɬəŋ] 'early' Reduced vowel. Occurs only in unstressed syllables. See Khanty phonology
Khmer ដឹក dœ̆k [ɗək] 'to transport' See Khmer phonology
Korean Southern Gyeongsang dialect 거미 [kəmi] 'spider' In southern gyeongsang, The sounds ㅡ(eu)/ɯ/ and ㅓ(eo)/ʌ/ merge with /ə/.
그물 [kəmuɭ] 'net'
Kurdish Sorani (Central) گەردوون/gerdûn [gərduːn] 'cosmos' See Kurdish phonology
Palewani (Southern)
Luxembourgish[24]dënn[d̥ən]'thin'More often realized as slightly rounded [ə̹].[24] See Luxembourgish phonology
Malay Standard /a/ and schwa-varieties berat [bə.rat] 'heavy' Realization of word-final /a/See Malay phonology
schwa-varieties apa [a.pə] 'what' Pronunciation of word-final ⟨a⟩ of root morphemes and before ⟨h⟩. Corresponds to /a/ in /a/-varieties. See Malay phonology
Johor-Riau
Terengganu
Jakarta datang [da.təŋ] 'to come' Usually occurs around Jakarta, often inherited from earlier Proto-Malayic syllable *-CəC. For the dialects in Sumatra in which the word-final /a/ letter ([a]) changes to an [ə] sound, see Malay phonology.
Palembang
Moksha търва [tərvaˑ] 'lip' See Moksha phonology
NorwegianMany dialects[25]sterkeste[²stæɾkəstə]'the strongest'Occurs only in unstressed syllables. The example word is from Urban East Norwegian. Some dialects (e.g. Trondheimsk) lack this sound.[26] See Norwegian phonology
Neapolitan vède or vère [veɾ(ə)] "to see" The final schwa sound might become "mute" or left out entirely. Schwa sounds might also be denoted with a diaeresis (I.e "vèrë" but it is not universal. See Neapolitan Phonology
Plautdietsch[27]bediedt[bəˈdit]'means'The example word is from the Canadian Old Colony variety, in which the vowel is somewhat fronted [ə̟].[27]
Portuguese Brazilian[28] maçã [maˈsə̃ᵑ] 'apple' Possible realization of final stressed /ɐ̃/. Also can be open-mid [ɜ̃].[29]
Romanian[30]păros[pəˈros]'hairy'See Romanian phonology
Russian Standard корова [kɐˈrovə] 'cow' See Russian phonology
Serbo-Croatian[31]vrt[ʋə̂rt̪]'garden'[ər] is a possible phonetic realization of the syllabic trill /r̩/ when it occurs between consonants.[31] See Serbo-Croatian phonology
SwedishSouthern[32]vante[²väntə]'mitten'Corresponds to a slightly retracted front vowel [ɛ̠] in Central Standard Swedish.[32] See Swedish phonology
Tyapa̠tan[ətan]'ɡood'
Welsh mynydd [mənɪð] 'mountain' See Welsh phonology

References

  1. 1 2 3 Wissing (2016), section "The rounded and unrounded mid-central vowels".
  2. ↑ Wissing (2012), p. 711.
  3. ↑ Recasens (1996), pp. 59–60, 104–105.
  4. ↑ Recasens (1996), p. 106.
  5. ↑ Recasens (1996), p. 98.
  6. ↑ Allan, Holmes & Lundskær-Nielsen (2011), p. 2.
  7. ↑ Basbøll (2005), pp. 57, 143.
  8. ↑ Basbøll (2005), p. 143.
  9. 1 2 Collins & Mees (2003), p. 129.
  10. 1 2 Wells (2008), p. XXV.
  11. 1 2 Gimson (2014), p. 138.
  12. ↑ Lass (2002), p. 116.
  13. ↑ Lodge (2009), p. 168.
  14. ↑ Roach (2004), p. 242.
  15. ↑ Watt & Allen (2003), p. 268.
  16. ↑ Sailaja (2009), pp. 24–25.
  17. ↑ Wells (1982), pp. 380–381.
  18. ↑ Stoddart, Upton & Widdowson (1999), pp. 74, 76.
  19. ↑ Krech et al. (2009), p. 69.
  20. 1 2 Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 40.
  21. ↑ McCoy, Priscilla (1999), Harmony and Sonority in Georgian (PDF)
  22. 1 2 Bishop (1996), p. 230.
  23. ↑ Template:The Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages
  24. 1 2 Gilles & Trouvain (2013), p. 70.
  25. ↑ Vanvik (1979), pp. 13, 20.
  26. ↑ Vanvik (1979), p. 21.
  27. 1 2 Cox, Driedger & Tucker (2013), p. 224.
  28. ↑ Battisti, Elisa; Gomes de Oliveira, Samuel (2019). "Elevação da vogal /a/ em contexto nasal em português brasileiro: estudo preliminar". Lingüística. 35 (1): 36. doi:10.5935/2079-312x.20190003. hdl:10183/197298. ISSN 2079-312X.
  29. ↑ Rothe-Neves & Valentim (1996), p. 112.
  30. ↑ Chițoran (2001:7)
  31. 1 2 Landau et al. (1999), p. 67.
  32. 1 2 Riad (2014), p. 22.
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