It’s the “Schwapisode” this week! Hosts Phil Thompson and Eric Armstrong get right into the middle of things (or at least, into the middle of the vowel space) to talk about the mid-central vowel, the most popular vowel in the English language.

Show Notes:

Schwa, the term: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwa#The_term " The word schwa is from the Hebrew word shva (שְׁוָא shewa’, /ʃəˈwa/, modern pronunciation: shva /ʃva/), which designates the Hebrew niqqud vowel sign shva,”  “that in modern Hebrew indicates either the phoneme /e/ or the complete absence of a vowel. Also the Hebrew shva is sometimes represented by the upside-down e symbol for Schwa, a misleading transliteration, since the Schwa vowel is not representative of modern Hebrew pronunciation of shva and is not characteristic of earlier pronunciations either (see Tiberian vocalization → Mobile Shwa = Shwa na'). The spelling "schwa" is German in origin."

From the online etymology dictionary:  lit. "emptiness."

Schwa is [uh] the [uh] sound that many [uh] English speakers use as a [uh] filler sound. (In other cases, North American speakers use something in the range of [ʌ] or [ɐ]).

SPELLING:

Can be represented by every vowel in the English alphabet.

1. •like the <a> in about
   

2. •like the <e> in taken
   

3. •like the <i> in pencil
   

4. •like the <o> in eloquent
   

5. •like the <u> in supply
   

6. •like the <y> in sibyl
   

Scadoosh and the case of the Schwa—the story of the word used by Jack Black in Kung Fu Panda— by Benjamin Zimmer on Language Log http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=288 (How do we spell this new word? Skidoosh, skudoosh, skedoosh, skadoosh?)

*Digression: Rhotic vs. Non-rhotic accents

"rhotic schwa" aka "schwer" or "flying schwa"

In non-rhotic accents, letter and comma share the vowel schwa on sounds spelled as

1. •-er in letter
   

2. •-or in actor
   

3. •-o(u)r in colo(u)r
   

4. •-yr in martyr
   

5. •-ure in figure
   

CONTRAST "stressed schwa" (in some accents NURSE, in others STRUT) with "unstressed schwa"

Schwa in "centering diphthongs"

* When the schwa is at the end of a diphthong

near, square, cure, [ north/force, start ]

*Digression: smoothing of square, (near), north/force, start

* Strong forms and weak forms

1. to before vowels.
   

2. 
   

3. Can, from, of, what,  want to
   

4. 
   

5. photography
   

6. 
   

7. Syllabic Consonants -tion -dl
   

8. 
   

9. Lenin/Lenon
   

10. Rosa's roses
    

From Fleming & Johnson's Rosa’s roses: reduced vowels in American English in JIPA Journal of the International Phonetic Association (April 2007), 37 (1), pg. 83-9

Ultimately: word-final schwa is much more mid-central, while reduced vowels are generally high.

Jack Windsor Lewis http://www.yek.me.uk/spellings.html English  Spellings vis a vis Phonemes has loads of examples of schwa in different contexts, including the exceptions that aren’t schwa.

For example (these should be said with schwa on the -man ending):

barman, chairman, churchman, clergyman, dairyman, dustman, fireman, foreman, Frenchman, freshman, frogman, gentleman, horseman, henchman, infantryman, madman, milkman, penman, ploughman, policeman, salesman, seaman, spokesman, statesman, tradesman, Walkman, woodman

Exceptions with /ӕ/: caveman, chessman, conman, gasman, handyman, jazzman, Kingsman, middleman, snowman, superman, whiteman

Schwa epenthesis : inserting a schwa where there “isn’t one” in the orthography. Examples:

    fillum for film

    were-unt [wɝ.ɹənt] for weren't

    Growen [ˈɡɹoʊ.ən] for grown, knowen  [ˈnoʊ.ən] for known

From wikipedia:  An example in an English song is "The Umbrella Man", where the meter requires "umbrella" to be pronounced with four syllables, um-buh-rel-la

Other Examples:

    Dwight [dəˈwaɪt]

    realtor [ˈɹilətɚ]

    Yogi Bear says "pic-a-nic basket" for "picnic basket."

    ath-e-lete [ˈæθəˌlit]

    triath-a-lon [tɹaɪˈæθəˌlɒn]

VARIATIONS:

1. •final schwa more "hut" like [ʌ] in North America
   

2. •in New Zealand, KIT is schwa "fush and chups"
   

3. •"New Zealand Sucks" vs. "Australia Sivern"
   

4. •final -ow in "window, tomato, potato, fellow" as schwa