The vowel Schwa

Nguyn Ngc Vinh Qunh

- Whats the most common sound in English???

- Whats the most important sound in English???

- Its

this one and it sounds like this :

- Its called the Schwa

 Schwa is the name for the most common sound in English. Its a weak, unstressed sound and it occurs in many words. The schwa is very short, neutral vowel sound, the exact quality of which depends on the consonants around it.

- 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. Ex: Early : /:li/ - 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 / :li /

 Many other words that end in er also end in the schwa sound. Ex: cooker, painter, solder, writer, teacher, all end in the schwa sound. The schwa sound can replace any vowel soud in english and many words contain more than one schwa sound.

 Schwa is also used for weak forms of words. These words have both weak forms and strong forms. Ex: A, an, of ,and, but, at, us, as, that, am, are, was, must,
The weak forms is generally describled as lax, that is, not articulated with much enery, that make spoken English so difficult for you to understand.