[General] Schwa Sound

[Frenk969]

Hi there!

Some time ago I heard that schwa sound when followed by a vowel sound must be stopped.
For instance: 'Do you remember anything?' According to the schwa rule, basically I should pronounce the schwa sound at the end of the word. However, with reference to the snippet of information I wrote above, I shouldn't pronounce the schwa in this example since after remember there is a word beginning with a vowel. Is it right?

What I forgot to mention was I am referring to British English Accent!

 

[Raymott]

Most people would say this as "Do you rememberanything?"
I'm not sure I know what you mean by this schwa rule. Can you give an example of it?

 

[Tdol]

To link the words, /r/ may come after the schwa.

 

[Frenk969]

Hi there!

What I meant was that basically If I pronounced remember with the schwa sound, it would be at the end of the word, so the r would be not rhotic. However, if followed by a vowel sound, basically I should pronounce it with the r, as an american would pronounce it (so rhotic). Hope I clarified my point a little bit.

 

[emsr2d2]

I'm not sure I'm following your points here but I can tell you this, from a BrE speaker's point of view:

If I say "Do you remember?", the final "r" is not pronounced.
If I say "Do you remember anything?", the final "r" is pronounced as it leads into the "a" of "anything".

They would sound like "Do you remembuh?" and "Do you remembuhrennything" respectively! Apologies for my attempts at showing the pronunciation - I don't do phonetics.

 

[Tdol]

Here, it is sandwiched between two vowel sounds. It is not the same as pronouncing a rhotic /r/ at the end of a vowel sound. I speak non-rhotic British English and am happy to put /r/ there. I wouldn't normally trill the sound after a vowel sound the way that they do in some variants of English. It's an intrusive or linking sound rather than a rhotic /r/ to me.

 

[tzfujimino]

I heard that schwa sound when followed by a vowel sound must be stopped.

I'm wondering if Frenk meant "dropped" instead of "stopped".
Something like "... rememb ranything?"

 

[Raymott]

He could probably do that when he returns to distribute his Likes or Thanks. Though it's not as if we haven't asked about the rule.

 

[Frenk969]

I don't think there's something wrong in being thankful...

 

[Tdol]

In 'Do you remember anything?' we have a linking /r/.
If an /r/ is pronounced before 'and' in 'law and order', it's an intrusive /r/.

I am sorry. Phonetics is not my bag. I see that as like trying to distinguish between and participle and a gerund in tricky sample sentences. ;-)

 

[tzfujimino]

I learned the intrusive "r" from you many years ago. Thank you. My example was "The idea is ..."

 

[Tdol]

As someone who is interested in phonetics, I find the difference important.

I stand corrected. :-(, etc. ;-)

 

[J&K Tutoring]

Let's circle back to the original question and the original example: 'Do you remember anything?'

I'll qualify my response by stating that I am a native AmE speaker, and this thread is about BrE accents, but I think the treatment of the linking (or not linking) of these two words depends on the meaning: Does the speaker emphasize the remembering or the anything?

If the speaker wants to know if the listener remembers, then the 'r' would be heard as a link: 'D' you remembuh ranything?'

If the emphasis is on the word anything, then there would be a stop to the schwa (no 'r') before the word anything. 'D' you remembuh enything?'