Word info Synonyms Antonyms

schwa

Speech parts

1. schwa - Noun

2. schwa - Verb

Meaning

a neutral middle vowel; occurs in unstressed syllables

Source: WordNet

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Phrases with the word

Examples

Although some words like necessary are almost universally pronounced with the full vowel, older generations of Australians are relatively likely to pronounce these affixes with a schwa while younger generations are relatively likely to use a full vowel. Source: Internet

Although it is the most common vowel sound in spoken English, schwa is not always taught to elementary school students because some find it difficult to understand. Source: Internet

A small circle below a letter is used to mark both the schwa (e, also ḁ etc. for other reduced vowels) and syllabic consonants (r or l, for instance). Source: Internet

If the penult has a schwa, then stress moves to the ante-penultimate syllable if there is one, even if that syllable has a schwa as well; if the word is disyllabic, the stress is final. Source: Internet

In Modern Hebrew, words written with a shva may be pronounced with either /e/ or without any vowel (or sometimes as an actual schwa ), and this does not correspond well to how the word was pronounced historically. Source: Internet

In normal conversation, the second vowel is reduced to a schwa: /ˈkɛərən/ in RP (ref: OED ). Source: Internet

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