Mid central vowel

Mid central vowel
ə
Audio sample
Encoding
X-SAMPA@

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.

It is the most common vowel phoneme in the English language, yet it does not have its own letter. It is marked as upside-down 'e' (ə) in the IPA phonetic alphabet.

Characteristics

Examples

Language WordIPAMeaningNotes
Albanian një [ɲə] 'one'
AfrikaansStandardlig[ləχ]'light'Also described as open-mid [ɜ]. See Afrikaans phonology
Many speakerslug'air'Many speakers merge /œ/ with /ə/, even in formal speech. 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
Easternamb[əm(b)]'with'Reduced vowel. The exact height, backness and rounding are variable. See Catalan phonology
Some Western accents
Chinese Hokkienlêr (螺)[lə˨˦]'snail'
Mandarin 根/gēn [kən˥]ⓘ 'root' See Standard Chinese phonology
Chuvashăман[əm'an]'worm'
DanishStandardhoppe[ˈhʌ̹pə]'mare'Sometimes realized as rounded [ə̹]. See Danish phonology
DutchStandardrenner[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/. See Dutch phonology
EnglishMost dialectsarena[əˈɹiːnə]'arena'Reduced vowel; varies in height between close-mid and open-mid. Word-final /ə/ can be as low as [ɐ]. See English phonology
Cultivated South Africanbird[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
Received PronunciationOften 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.
Geordiebust[bəst]'bust'Spoken by some middle class speakers, mostly female; other speakers use [ʊ]. Corresponds to /ɜ/ or /ʌ/ in other dialects.
IndianMay be lower. Some Indian varieties merge /ɜ/ or /ʌ/ with /ə/ like Welsh English.
WalesMay also be further back; it corresponds to /ɜ/ or /ʌ/ in other dialects.
YorkshireMiddle 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
GermanStandardBeschlag[b̥əˈʃläːk]ⓘ'fitting'See Standard German phonology
Southern German accentsoder[ˈoːdə]'or'Used instead of [ɐ]. See Standard German phonology
Georgian 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[təh]'to be bald'Contrasts with a rhotacized close-mid [ɚ̝].
Khanty 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)
Luxembourgishdënn[d̥ən]'thin'More often realized as slightly rounded [ə̹]. 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 dialectssterkeste[²stæɾkəstə]'the strongest'Occurs only in unstressed syllables. The example word is from Urban East Norwegian. Some dialects (e.g. Trondheimsk) lack this sound. 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
Plautdietschbediedt[bəˈdit]'means'The example word is from the Canadian Old Colony variety, in which the vowel is somewhat fronted [ə̟].
Portuguese Brazilian maçã [maˈsə̃ᵑ] 'apple' Possible realization of final stressed /ɐ̃/. Also can be open-mid [ɜ̃].
Romanianpăros[pəˈros]'hairy'See Romanian phonology
Russian Standard корова [kɐˈrovə] 'cow' See Russian phonology
Serbo-Croatianvrt[ʋə̂rt̪]'garden'[ər] is a possible phonetic realization of the syllabic trill /r̩/ when it occurs between consonants. See Serbo-Croatian phonology
SwedishSouthernvante[²väntə]'mitten'Corresponds to a slightly retracted front vowel [ɛ̠] in Central Standard Swedish. 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. Archived from the original on 2020-07-13. Retrieved 2026-04-08.
  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.