The apprentice
Member
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2013
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- Spanish
- Home Country
- Dominican Republic
- Current Location
- Dominican Republic
Dear teachers and members:
The following is my opinion in regard to the importance of Schwa Sound (ə) in learning English pronunciation and listening.
1°) In English, a syllable is a segment of speech consisting of a consonant and a vowel, a consonant and a diphthong, a consonant and a triphthong, a syllabic consonant or only a vowel, which mades sound in a word, being the vowel the more important and the one who receives the stress changes.
2°) I found that English has only four levels of stress pattern: Primary stress syllable, secondary stress syllable, unstressed syllable and vowel reduction, being the more frequent the unstressed syllable and a vowel reduction levels, also called Schwa Sound.
3°) We can notice that there is more than a Schwa Sound in many multisyllable words (consonant /ˈkɒn
sə
nənt/, vulnerable /ˈvʌl
nər
ə
bəl/), but I have also noticed that there is no words with more than three Schwa Sounds.
4°) Almost every multi-syllable word in English has unstressed syllable, and most of the function words in sentences have vowel reduction. It is said that more than 65 percent of words in a text are Schwa Sounds - including unstressed syllables as well as vowel reductions -. It is also said that the 100 more common function words (the, a, of, to, and, that, for, can, etc.) when are not alone or at the end of a sentence in English have vowel reduction, which means it becomes into Schwa Sound, so in other word, English is a Schwa Sound Language.
5°) Finally, I encourage those who are learning English and specially those who are learning it as a second language to know the important of the Schwa Sound in learning English pronunciation and listening.
Please, I would like your comments about my opinion and I would appreciate to be clarified in any misunderstanding that I had written.
Very sincerely and my regards to all of you,
The Apprentice.
The following is my opinion in regard to the importance of Schwa Sound (ə) in learning English pronunciation and listening.
1°) In English, a syllable is a segment of speech consisting of a consonant and a vowel, a consonant and a diphthong, a consonant and a triphthong, a syllabic consonant or only a vowel, which mades sound in a word, being the vowel the more important and the one who receives the stress changes.
2°) I found that English has only four levels of stress pattern: Primary stress syllable, secondary stress syllable, unstressed syllable and vowel reduction, being the more frequent the unstressed syllable and a vowel reduction levels, also called Schwa Sound.
3°) We can notice that there is more than a Schwa Sound in many multisyllable words (consonant /ˈkɒn
4°) Almost every multi-syllable word in English has unstressed syllable, and most of the function words in sentences have vowel reduction. It is said that more than 65 percent of words in a text are Schwa Sounds - including unstressed syllables as well as vowel reductions -. It is also said that the 100 more common function words (the, a, of, to, and, that, for, can, etc.) when are not alone or at the end of a sentence in English have vowel reduction, which means it becomes into Schwa Sound, so in other word, English is a Schwa Sound Language.
5°) Finally, I encourage those who are learning English and specially those who are learning it as a second language to know the important of the Schwa Sound in learning English pronunciation and listening.
Please, I would like your comments about my opinion and I would appreciate to be clarified in any misunderstanding that I had written.
Very sincerely and my regards to all of you,
The Apprentice.
Last edited: