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Unstressed Syllables, Schwa and Syllabic Consonants

This document summarizes key aspects of unstressed syllables, schwa sounds, and syllabic consonants in English pronunciation: 1) Vowels in unstressed syllables are weaker and reduced, often sounding like a schwa. They may contain schwa, /i/, /ɪ/, /(j)u/, or /(j)ʊ/ sounds or no vowel at all before certain consonants. 2) Unstressed syllables can occur before or after the stressed syllable, up to 2 before and sometimes 3 after in certain words. 3) Schwa has no sound before vowels but occurs before consonants. Word-initial and word-final positions

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97 views7 pages

Unstressed Syllables, Schwa and Syllabic Consonants

This document summarizes key aspects of unstressed syllables, schwa sounds, and syllabic consonants in English pronunciation: 1) Vowels in unstressed syllables are weaker and reduced, often sounding like a schwa. They may contain schwa, /i/, /ɪ/, /(j)u/, or /(j)ʊ/ sounds or no vowel at all before certain consonants. 2) Unstressed syllables can occur before or after the stressed syllable, up to 2 before and sometimes 3 after in certain words. 3) Schwa has no sound before vowels but occurs before consonants. Word-initial and word-final positions

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Thu Hương
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Unstressed Syllables, Schwa and

Syllabic Consonants
Unstressed Syllables

 Weak (reduced) vowel → shorter, weaker in energy


and closer to schwa /ә/ in place of articulation
 Vowels of weak syllables:
– Schwa /ә/
– /i/ (finally or before a vowel): happy, react
– /ɪ/ (before a consonant): panic, elect
– /(j)u/ (before a vowel or before a a stressed syllable):
intuition, regulate, united
– /(j)ʊ/ (before a consonant plus an unstressed syllable):
stimulus, soluble
– No vowel, just a syllabic sonorant /m n l r/: final, recent
 /ɪ/ and /ʊ/ may also function as full vowels
Unstressed Syllables

 Before the stressed syllable: never more than 2


weak syllables
e.g. if the stressed syllable is the fourth syllable:
justifi'cation halluci'nation
+ --+ - - +- + -
 After the stressed syllable: may be 3 weak syllables
(in words with certain endings)
e.g.: candidacy impenetrable
+ - - - - + - - -
 harvest, biggest, family
 Weak vowels: often free variation
Schwa

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/gr
ammar/pron/sounds/vowel_short_5.shtml
 No prevocalic schwa in English
 Preconsonantal schwa
– Often interchangable with /i/
(spelling: usually /i/ or /e/ not followed by r)
– Word-initial schwa: a- or o-

 Word-final schwa – almost /ʌ/


Syllabic Consonants

 Schwa followed by a sonorant (/n, l/ and less


frequently /m, ŋ, r/) → /ә/ often drops out → the
sonorant becomes syllabic
[l] [n] [r]

Word-final pedal, quarrel button, dozen (not possible)

Preconson.: bottled, penalty hadn’t, certainly (rare:) literal [ -r l]

Prevocalic crystallize, listening, cigarette,


traveller definition cemetery
Syllabic Consonants

 Syllabic /l/: always dark


 Examples with syllabic [m]: prism, handsome
 Examples with syllabic [ŋ]: bacon, we can go
 Syllabic: acts as the “vowel” of the syllable
 Only occur in unstressed syllables
 How are syllabic consonants indicated in
transcription?
Sources
 Baloghné Bérces Katalin, Szentgyörgyi Szilárd. Az
angol nyelv kiejtése -The Pronunciation of English.
Available from:
http://mek.oszk.hu/04900/04910/04910.pdf
 Kreidler, Charles W. The Pronunciation of English: A
Course Book in Phonology. Oxford; Cambridge:
Blackwell, 1999.
 BBC Learning English webpage

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/gram
mar/pron/sounds/vowel_short_5.shtml
 Nádasdy, Ádám. Practice Book in English Phonetics
and Phonology. Budapest: Nemzeti Tankönyvkiadó,
2003.

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