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The mid central vowel (also known as schwa) is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ə⟩, a rotated lowercase letter e, which is called a "schwa".
| Mid central vowel | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ə | |||
| IPA number | 322 | ||
| Audio sample | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) | ə | ||
| Unicode (hex) | U+0259 | ||
| X-SAMPA | @ | ||
| Braille |  | ||
| |||
While the Handbook of the International Phonetic Association does not define the roundedness of [ə],[1] it is more often unrounded than rounded. The phonetician Jane Setter describes the pronunciation of the unrounded variant as follows: "a sound which can be produced by basically relaxing the articulators in the oral cavity and vocalising."[2] To produce the rounded variant, all that needs to be done in addition to that is to round the lips.
Afrikaans contrasts unrounded and rounded mid central vowels; the latter is usually transcribed with ⟨œ⟩. The contrast is not very stable, and many speakers use an unrounded vowel in both cases.[3]
Danish[4] and Luxembourgish[5] have a mid central vowel that is variably rounded. In other languages, the change in rounding is accompanied with the change in height and/or backness. For instance, in Dutch, the unrounded allophone of /ə/ is mid central unrounded [ə], but its word-final rounded allophone is close-mid front rounded [ø̜], close to the main allophone of /ʏ/.[6]
"Mid central vowel" and "schwa" do not always mean the same thing, and the symbol ⟨ə⟩ is often used for any obscure vowel, regardless of its precise quality. For instance, the unstressed English vowel transcribed ⟨ə⟩ and called "schwa" is a central unrounded vowel that can be close-mid [ɘ], mid [ə] or open-mid [ɜ], depending on the environment.[7] The French vowel transcribed that way is closer to [ø].
If a mid-central vowel of a language is not a reduced vowel, or if it may be stressed, it may be more unambiguous to transcribe it with one of the other mid-central vowel letters: ⟨ɘ ɜ⟩ for an unrounded vowel or ⟨ɵ ɞ⟩ for a rounded vowel.
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The mid central unrounded vowel is frequently written with the symbol [ə]. If greater precision is desired, the symbol for the close-mid central unrounded vowel may be used with a lowering diacritic, [ɘ̞]. Another possibility is using the symbol for the open-mid central unrounded vowel with a raising diacritic, [ɜ̝].
Features
- Its vowel height is mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel and an open vowel.
- Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.
- It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.
Occurrence
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albanian | një | [ɲə] | 'one' | ||
| Afrikaans | Standard[3] | lig | [ləχ] | 'light' | Also described as open-mid [ɜ].[8] See Afrikaans phonology |
| Many speakers[3] | lug | 'air' | Many speakers merge /œ/ with /ə/, even in formal speech.[3] See Afrikaans phonology | ||
| Bhojpuri | कर | [kər] | 'to do' | ||
| Catalan | Balearic | sec | [ˈsək] | 'dry' | Stressable schwa that corresponds to the open-mid [ɛ] in Eastern dialects and the close-mid [e] in Western dialects. See Catalan phonology |
| Eastern[9] | amb | [əm(b)] | 'with' | Reduced vowel. The exact height, backness and rounding are variable.[10] See Catalan phonology | |
| Some Western accents[11] | |||||
| Chinese | Hokkien | lêr (螺) | [lə˨˦] | 'snail' | |
| Mandarin | 根/gēn | 'root' | See Standard Chinese phonology | ||
| Chuvash | ăман | [əm'an] | 'worm' | ||
| Danish | Standard[12][13] | hoppe | [ˈhʌ̹pə] | 'mare' | Sometimes realized as rounded [ə̹].[4] See Danish phonology |
| Dutch | Standard[6] | renner | [ˈrɛnər] | 'runner' | The backness varies between near-front and central, whereas the height varies between close-mid and open-mid. Many speakers feel that this vowel is simply an unstressed allophone of /ʏ/.[6] See Dutch phonology |
| English | Most dialects[7][14] | arena | [əˈɹiːnə] | 'arena' | Reduced vowel; varies in height between close-mid and open-mid. Word-final /ə/ can be as low as [ɐ].[7][14] See English phonology |
| Cultivated South African[15] | bird | [bə̞ːd] | 'bird' | May be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɜː⟩. Other South African varieties use a higher, more front and rounded vowel [øː~ ø̈ː]. See South African English phonology | |
| Norfolk[16] | |||||
| Received Pronunciation[17] | Often transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɜː⟩. It is sulcalized, which means the tongue is grooved like in [ɹ]. 'Upper Crust RP' speakers pronounce a near-open vowel [ɐː], but for some other speakers it may actually be open-mid [ɜː]. This vowel corresponds to rhotacized [ɝ] in rhotic dialects. | ||||
| Geordie[18] | bust | [bəst] | 'bust' | Spoken by some middle class speakers, mostly female; other speakers use [ʊ]. Corresponds to /ɜ/ or /ʌ/ in other dialects. | |
| Indian[19] | May be lower. Some Indian varieties merge /ɜ/ or /ʌ/ with /ə/ like Welsh English. | ||||
| Wales[20] | May also be further back; it corresponds to /ɜ/ or /ʌ/ in other dialects. | ||||
| Yorkshire[21] | Middle class pronunciation. Other speakers use [ʊ]. Corresponds to /ɜ/ or /ʌ/ in other dialects. | ||||
| Faroese | Tórshavn | vátur | [ˈvɔaːtəɹ] | 'yellow' | See Faroese phonology |
| Northeastern dialects | [ˈvaːtəɹ] | ||||
| Galician | Some dialects | leite | [ˈlejtə] | 'milk' | Alternative realization of final unstressed /e/ or /ɛ/ (normally [i~ɪ~e̝]) |
| fenecer | [fənəˈs̪eɾ] | 'to die' | Alternative realization of unstressed /e/ or /ɛ/ in any position | ||
| German | Standard[22] | Beschlag | 'fitting' | See Standard German phonology | |
| Southern German accents[23] | oder | [ˈoːdə] | 'or' | Used instead of [ɐ].[23] See Standard German phonology | |
| Georgian[24] | დგას/dgas | [dəɡas] | 1st person singular 'to stand' | Phonetically inserted to break up consonant clusters. See Georgian phonology | |
| Kashmiri | کٔژ | [kət͡s] | 'how many' | ||
| Kensiu[25] | [təh] | 'to be bald' | Contrasts with a rhotacized close-mid [ɚ̝].[25] | ||
| Khanty[26] | аԓәӈ | [aɬəŋ] | 'early' | Reduced vowel. Occurs only in unstressed syllables. See Khanty phonology | |
| Khmer | ដឹក dœ̆k | [ɗək] | 'to transport' | See Khmer phonology | |
| Korean | Southern Gyeongsang dialect | 거미 | [kəmi] | 'spider' | In southern gyeongsang, The sounds ㅡ(eu)/ɯ/ and ㅓ(eo)/ʌ/ merge with /ə/. |
| 그물 | [kəmuɭ] | 'net' | |||
| Kurdish | Sorani (Central) | شهو/şew | [ʃəw] | 'night' | See Kurdish phonology |
| Palewani (Southern) | |||||
| Luxembourgish[5] | dënn | [d̥ən] | 'thin' | More often realized as slightly rounded [ə̹].[5] See Luxembourgish phonology | |
| Malay | Standard Indonesian | lelah | [lə.lah] | 'tired' | See Malay phonology |
| Standard Malaysian | pengadil | [pə.ŋä.dɪl] | 'referee' | ||
| Johor-Riau | apa | [ä.pə] | 'what' | Common realization of /a/ at the end of words and before /h/. See Malay phonology | |
| Terengganu | Common realization of /a/ at the end of words and before /h/. See Terengganu Malay | ||||
| Jakartan dialect | datang | [da.təŋ] | 'to come' | Usually occurs around Jakarta, often inherited from earlier Proto-Malayic syllable *-CəC. For the dialects in Sumatra in which the word-final /a/ letter ([a]) changes to an [ə] sound, see Malay phonology. | |
| Moksha | търва | [tərvaˑ] | 'lip' | See Moksha phonology | |
| Norwegian | Many dialects[27] | sterkeste | [²stæɾkəstə] | 'the strongest' | Occurs only in unstressed syllables. The example word is from Urban East Norwegian. Some dialects (e.g. Trondheimsk) lack this sound.[28] See Norwegian phonology |
| Plautdietsch[29] | bediedt | [bəˈdit] | 'means' | The example word is from the Canadian Old Colony variety, in which the vowel is somewhat fronted [ə̟].[29] | |
| Portuguese | Brazilian[30] | maçã | [maˈsə̃ᵑ] | 'apple' | Possible realization of final stressed /ɐ̃/. Also can be open-mid [ɜ̃].[31] |
| Romanian[32] | păros | [pəˈros] | 'hairy' | See Romanian phonology | |
| Russian | Standard | корова | [kɐˈrovə] | 'cow' | See Russian phonology |
| Serbo-Croatian[33] | vrt | [ʋə̂rt̪] | 'garden' | [ər] is a possible phonetic realization of the syllabic trill /r̩/ when it occurs between consonants.[33] See Serbo-Croatian phonology | |
| Swedish | Southern[34] | vante | [²väntə] | 'mitten' | Corresponds to a slightly retracted front vowel [ɛ̠] in Central Standard Swedish.[34] See Swedish phonology |
| Tyap | a̠tan | [ətan] | 'ɡood' | ||
| Welsh | mynydd | [mənɪð] | 'mountain' | See Welsh phonology | |
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Languages may have a mid central rounded vowel (a rounded [ə]), distinct from both the close-mid and open-mid vowels. However, since no language is known to distinguish all three, there is no separate IPA symbol for the mid vowel, and the symbol [ɵ] for the close-mid central rounded vowel is generally used instead. If precision is desired, the lowering diacritic can be used: [ɵ̞]. This vowel can also be represented by adding the more rounded diacritic to the schwa symbol, or by combining the raising diacritic with the open-mid central rounded vowel symbol, although it is rare to use such symbols.
Features
- Its vowel height is mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel and an open vowel.
- Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.
- It is rounded, which means that the lips are rounded rather than spread or relaxed.
Occurrence
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Standard[3] | lug | [lɞ̝χ] | 'air' | Also described as open-mid [ɞ],[8] typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨œ⟩. Many speakers merge /œ/ and /ə/, even in formal speech.[3] See Afrikaans phonology |
| Danish | Standard[4] | hoppe | [ˈhʌ̹pə̹] | 'mare' | Possible realization of /ə/.[4] See Danish phonology |
| Dutch | Southern[35] | hut | [ɦɵ̞t] | 'hut' | Found in certain accents, e.g. in Bruges. Close-mid [ɵ] in Standard Dutch.[35] See Dutch phonology |
| English | California[36] | foot | [fɵ̞ʔt] | 'foot' | Part of the California vowel shift.[36][failed verification] Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ʊ⟩. |
| French[37][38] | je | 'I' | Only somewhat rounded;[37] may be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ə⟩ or ⟨ɵ⟩. Also described as close-mid [ɵ].[39] May be more front for a number of speakers. See French phonology | ||
| German | Chemnitz dialect[40] | Wonne | [ˈv̞ɞ̝nə] | 'bliss' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɞ⟩.[40] |
| Irish | Munster[41] | scoil | [skɞ̝lʲ] | 'school' | Allophone of /ɔ/ between a broad and a slender consonant.[41] See Irish phonology |
| Luxembourgish[5] | dënn | [d̥ə̹n] | 'thin' | Only slightly rounded; less often realized as unrounded [ə̜].[5] See Luxembourgish phonology | |
| Norwegian | Urban East[42] | nøtt | [nɞ̝tː] | 'nut' | Also described as open-mid front [œʷ];[27][43] typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨œ⟩ or ⟨ø⟩. See Norwegian phonology |
| Plautdietsch | Canadian Old Colony[44] | butzt | [bɵ̞t͡st] | 'bumps' | Mid-centralized from [ʊ], to which it corresponds in other dialects.[44] |
| Swedish | Central Standard[45][46] | full | 'full' | Pronounced with compressed lips, more closely transcribed [ɵ̞ᵝ] or [ɘ̞ᵝ]. Less often described as close-mid [ø̈].[47] See Swedish phonology | |
| Tajik | Northern dialects | кӯҳ/kūh | [kɵ̞h] | 'mountain' | Typically described as close-mid [ɵ]. See Tajik phonology |
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