The Schwa

Sometimes we speak too fast to pronounce syllables accurately, or we have a lazy tongue. Whatever the reason, we fail to clearly and distinctly pronounce some vowels. The arbiters of the English language have responded to this tendency by giving us a pronunciation symbol called the schwa. Most dictionaries use the upside-down e, |ə|, to symbolize a schwa. The schwa is really quite common and follows a very predictable pattern—it usually appears in multiple-syllable words, and it is never accented.

The schwa sound can be produced by or with any vowel, including y.

I NEW CONCEPT. Introduce the schwa spelling and pronunciation pattern made by the letter a, as in ago.

II LEARN the schwa spelling and pronunciation pattern made by the letter e, as in seven. The indefinite article the is pronounced with either the short-vowel u or schwa sound. (The definite article the, |thēʹ|, is pronounced with the long vowel e sound, as we learned in Lesson 36.)

III LEARN the schwa spelling and pronunciation pattern of the letter i, as in devil.

IV LEARN the schwa spelling and pronunciation pattern of o and ou, as in lemon and famous.

V LEARN the schwa spelling and pronunciation pattern of the letter u and y, as in locust and Maryland. Notice that the word wishful ends with one l. The stand-alone word full is spelled with two l’s, but when full is added as a suffix to a root word, one l is dropped. Dictionaries might show these words with |ŭ| or |ә|.

Review: |ә|

VI REVIEW the schwa spelling and pronunciation patterns for all five vowels.
There are instances where the vowel combinations ou and ai will be pronounced with the schwa sound. In future lessons you will encounter the |ǝ| sound in famous, and captain. The pattern still applies: the schwas in these words are all in the unaccented syllable of the words.