# 3. Paco has dinner at Schwa's (pronunciation of Schwa)

The schwa is the vowel sound in many lightly pronounced unaccented syllables in words of more than one syllable.It is sometimes signified by the pronunciation "uh" or symbolized by an upside-down rotated e. A schwa sound can be represented by any vowel. In the exercise below you can see some examples in common words:

Schwa in a alarm | Schwa in e ferocious | Schwa in i family | Schwa in o sailor | Schwa in u circus |
Imagen de debsilver en Flickr. Licencia CC | Imagen de Sabbath P en Flickr. Licencia CC | Imagen de gruntzooki en Flickr. Licencia CC | Imagen de T. Hawk en Flickr. Licencia CC | Imagen de def110 en Fickr. Licencia CC

# Importante

Watch these videos about the vowel sound schwa.
You can listen to the explanations and then practice your pronunciation with the video on the left.
Besides, you can learn some differences in pronunciation with American English schwa with the video on the right.

# Ejercicio Resuelto

> > > 1) doctor 2) banana 3) protect

> > > 4) tomorrow 5) difficult 6) survive

> > > 7) summer 8) level 9) theatre

> > > 10) pupil 11) measure 12) wizard

Look at the words above and decide where in the word the schwa sound occurs.

# Retroalimentación

> > > 1) doctor 2) banana 3) protect

> > > 4) tomorrow 5) difficult 6) survive

> > > 7) summer 8) level 9) theatre

> > > 10) pupil 11) measure 12) wizard

# Reflexiona

Imagen de Howcheng en Wikipedia. Dominio público.

The mid-central vowel sound (rounded or unrounded) in the middle of the vowel chart, stressed or unstressed. In IPA phonetic transcription, it is written as [ə]. In this case the term mid-central vowel may be used instead of schwa to avoid ambiguity.

# Retroalimentación

The most important point of this lesson is that schwa is always unstressed.
Since there is at least one schwa in most words of more than one syllable, there are a lot of schwas in English speech.
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles was born on September 4, in 1981. She is often referred professionally under the mononym Beyoncé. She is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, actress and model.

Imagen de Mr Azed en Flickr . Licencia CC. | The song Halo, by Beyoncé (2008)

QUESTIONS:

1) How many of these words contain the sound schwa?

make / never / again / shut / grace/ light / awakened / forget / feel / even / know / doubt

2) Say where the sound schwa is in these words:

addicted / really / there / surround / away

Listen to the song and answer the questions above.

1) never / again / awakened / forget / even / know / doubt

2) addicted / really / there / surround / away

Notice that the pronunciation may vary in some words:

gravity: ['grævɪtɪ] or /'grævəti/

addicted: /ə'dɪktəd / or /ə'dɪktɪd/

# Comprueba lo aprendido

# Pregunta

Take into account what you have learnt about the schwa sound and decide where this sound is in these words:

1) about

# Respuestas

Opción 1

a) about

Opción 2

b) about

# Retroalimentación

Correct.
Wrong. The phonemic transcription of this word is /ə'baʊt/.

# Solución

1. Opción correcta (Retroalimentación)
2. Incorrecto (Retroalimentación)

# Pregunta

2) together

# Respuestas

Opción 1

a) together

Opción 2

b) together

# Retroalimentación

Wrong. The transcription of this word is /tə'geðər /.
Correct.

# Solución

1. Incorrecto (Retroalimentación)
2. Opción correcta (Retroalimentación)

# Pregunta

3) difference

# Respuestas

Opción 1

a) difference

Opción 2

b) difference

# Retroalimentación

Wrong. The transcription of this word is /'dɪfrəns/.
Correct.

# Solución

1. Incorrecto (Retroalimentación)
2. Opción correcta (Retroalimentación)

# Curiosidad

Some curiosities about the Schwa sound

> > Did you know that the schwa ...

> > 1) comes from an Hebrew word which means no vowel sound?

> > 2) is the most common vowel sound in English?

> > 3) is represented by the upside down e letter?

> > 4) may be found in any vowel in English?

> > 5) is not only a vowel sound but also a restaurant in Chicago? No, we aren't joking.

> > Imagen de jasmined en Flickr. Licencia CC

# Para saber más

This web page is very useful for learning the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) sounds. Use this phonetic chart to learn the sounds of English.