denny Study & Teaching books

Learn or Teach ANY language at linguaspectrumplus.com http What is the most common sound in English? What is the most important sound in English? What sound can be found in almost all English words with more than one syllable? It's this one... ...and it sounds like this: /ə/ It's called the Schwa. The schwa is a very short, neutral vowel sound, the exact quality of which depends on the consonants around it. As I said, it is found in virtually all English words with more than one syllable and it is the sound we use for the weak forms of many words. Tomek Sikorski from Poland has asked if I can help him to correctly pronounce this word. Well Tom, the word has three syllables so it must have a schwa in it somewhere. Any idea where the schwa will be? The word ear has only one syllable. In fact, it can be represented by the phonetic symbol /ɪə/, a diphthong. Though it looks as if this word should begin with the /ɪə/ sound, it actually begins with the vowel sound that you find in the word bird. /ɜ:/ Its root word is early. /ɜ:lɪ/ When we add -er to the end of the word to make a comparative, the new word ends with the schwa sound, as do many words that end in -er. earlier /ɜ:lɪə/. I got up earlier today. Many other words that end in -er also end in the schwa sound. The word doctor, for instance. Cooker, painter, soldier, writer, teacher, all end in the schwa sound. The schwa sound can replace any vowel sound in English and many words contain more than one schwa sound. Take the ...