| Mid central vowel | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ə | |||
| IPA number | 322 | ||
| Audio sample | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity(decimal) | ə | ||
| Unicode(hex) | U+0259 | ||
| X-SAMPA | @ | ||
| Braille |  | ||
| |||
| IPA:Vowels | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Legend:unrounded • rounded |
Themid central vowel is a type ofvowel sound, used in some spokenlanguages. Areduced mid central vowel is known as aschwa. The symbol in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet that represents either sound is ⟨ə⟩, arotated lowercase letter e.
The word, schwa, comes from theHebrewShva (via German),[1][2] aNiqqud, which in most cases in Modern Hebrew denotes a de-emphasis of an accompanying vowel that would otherwise be pronounced strongly. Shva itself is silent and is not a mid central vowel, which does not exist in Modern Hebrew.
While theHandbook of the International Phonetic Association does not define theroundedness of[ə],[3] a schwa is more often unrounded than rounded. The phoneticianJane 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."[4] 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.[5]
Danish[6] andLuxembourgish[7] have a mid central vowel that is variably rounded. In other languages, the change in rounding is accompanied with the change in height or backness. For instance, inDutch, 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/.[8]
"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.[9]The French vowel transcribed that way is closer to[ø].
If a mid-central vowel of a language is not areduced vowel, or if it may be stressed, it may be more unambiguous to transcribe it with one of the other mid-central vowel letters: ⟨ɘɜ⟩ for an unrounded vowel or ⟨ɵɞ⟩ for a rounded vowel.
| Mid central unrounded vowel | |
|---|---|
| ɘ̞ | |
| ɜ̝ | |
| Audio sample | |
Themid central unrounded vowel is frequently written with the symbol ⟨ə⟩. If greater precision is desired, the symbol for theclose-mid central unrounded vowel may be used with alowering diacritic, ⟨ɘ̞⟩, or for theopen-mid central unrounded vowel with araising diacritic, ⟨ɜ̝⟩.
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albanian | një | [ɲə] | 'one' | |||
| Afrikaans | Standard[5] | lig | [ləχ] | 'light' | Also described as open-mid[ɜ].[10] SeeAfrikaans phonology | |
| Many speakers[5] | lug | 'air' | Many speakers merge/œ/ with/ə/, even in formal speech.[5] SeeAfrikaans phonology | |||
| Arabic | Damascene | كرمال | [kɪɾ.məːl] | 'for the sake of' | Realized as /a/ by some speakers. | |
| 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. SeeCatalan phonology | |
| Eastern[11] | amb | [əm(b)] | 'with' | Reduced vowel. The exact height, backness and rounding are variable.[12] SeeCatalan phonology | ||
| Some Western accents[13] | ||||||
| Chinese | Hokkien | lêr (螺) | [lə˨˦] | 'snail' | ||
| Mandarin | 根/gēn | [kən˥]ⓘ | 'root' | SeeStandard Chinese phonology | ||
| Chuvash | ăман | [əm'an] | 'worm' | |||
| Danish | Standard[14][15] | hoppe | [ˈhʌ̹pə] | 'mare' | Sometimes realized as rounded[ə̹].[6] SeeDanish phonology | |
| Dutch | Standard[8] | 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/.[8] SeeDutch phonology | |
| English | Most dialects[9][16] | arena | [əˈɹiːnə] | 'arena' | Reduced vowel; varies in height between close-mid and open-mid. Word-final/ə/ can be as low as[ɐ].[9][16] SeeEnglish phonology | |
| CultivatedSouth African[17] | bird | [bə̞ːd] | 'bird' | May be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɜː⟩. Other South African varieties use a higher, more front and rounded vowel[øː~ ø̈ː]. SeeSouth African English phonology | ||
| Norfolk[18] | ||||||
| Received Pronunciation[19] | Often transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɜː⟩. It issulcalized, 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 torhotacized[ɝ] inrhotic dialects. | |||||
| Geordie[20] | bust | [bəst] | 'bust' | Spoken by some middle class speakers, mostly female; other speakers use[ʊ]. Corresponds to/ɜ/ or/ʌ/ in other dialects. | ||
| Indian[21] | May be lower. Some Indian varieties merge/ɜ/ or/ʌ/ with/ə/ like Welsh English. | |||||
| Wales[22] | May also be further back; it corresponds to/ɜ/ or/ʌ/ in other dialects. | |||||
| Yorkshire[23] | Middle class pronunciation. Other speakers use[ʊ]. Corresponds to/ɜ/ or/ʌ/ in other dialects. | |||||
| Faroese | Tórshavn | vátur | [ˈvɔaːtəɹ] | 'yellow' | SeeFaroese 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[24] | Beschlag | [b̥əˈʃläːk]ⓘ | 'fitting' | SeeStandard German phonology | |
| Southern German accents[25] | oder | [ˈoːdə] | 'or' | Used instead of[ɐ].[25] SeeStandard German phonology | ||
| Georgian[26] | დგას/dgas | [dəɡas] | 1st person singular 'to stand' | Phonetically inserted to break up consonant clusters. SeeGeorgian phonology | ||
| Indonesian | berat | [bə.rat] | 'heavy' | SeeMalay phonology | ||
| Kashmiri | کٔژ | [kət͡s] | 'how many' | |||
| Kashubian | Kaszëbë | [kaʃəbə] | 'Kashubia' | |||
| Kensiu[27] | [təh] | 'to be bald' | Contrasts with a rhotacized close-mid[ɚ̝].[27] | |||
| Khanty[28] | аԓәӈ | [aɬəŋ] | 'early' | Reduced vowel. Occurs only in unstressed syllables. SeeKhanty phonology | ||
| Khmer | ដឹកdœ̆k | [ɗək] | 'to transport' | SeeKhmer phonology | ||
| Korean | SouthernGyeongsang 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) | گەردوون/gerdûn | [gərduːn] | 'cosmos' | SeeKurdish phonology | |
| Palewani (Southern) | ||||||
| Luxembourgish[7] | dënn | [d̥ən] | 'thin' | More often realized as slightly rounded[ə̹].[7] SeeLuxembourgish phonology | ||
| Malay | Standard | /a/ and schwa-varieties | berat | [bə.rat] | 'heavy' | Realization of word-final/a/SeeMalay phonology |
| schwa-varieties | apa | [a.pə] | 'what' | Pronunciation of word-final⟨a⟩ of root morphemes and before⟨h⟩. Corresponds to/a/ in/a/-varieties. SeeMalay phonology | ||
| Johor-Riau | ||||||
| Terengganu | ||||||
| Jakarta | datang | [da.təŋ] | 'to come' | Usually occurs around Jakarta, often inherited from earlierProto-Malayic syllable*-CəC. For the dialects in Sumatra in which the word-final /a/ letter ([a]) changes to an [ə] sound, seeMalay phonology. | ||
| Palembang | ||||||
| Moksha | търва | [tərvaˑ] | 'lip' | SeeMoksha phonology | ||
| Norwegian | Many dialects[29] | sterkeste | [²stæɾkəstə] | 'the strongest' | Occurs only in unstressed syllables. The example word is fromUrban East Norwegian. Some dialects (e.g.Trondheimsk) lack this sound.[30] SeeNorwegian phonology | |
| Neapolitan | Santificammo | [sandifiˈkamm(ə]) | "Sanctified" | The final schwa sound might become "mute" or left out entirely. Schwa sounds might also be denoted with adiaeresis (E.G Santificammö) but it is not universal. SeeNeapolitan Phonology | ||
| Plautdietsch[31] | bediedt | [bəˈdit] | 'means' | The example word is from the Canadian Old Colony variety, in which the vowel is somewhat fronted[ə̟].[31] | ||
| Portuguese | Brazilian[32] | maçã | [maˈsə̃ᵑ] | 'apple' | Possible realization of final stressed /ɐ̃/. Also can be open-mid[ɜ̃].[33] | |
| Romanian[34] | păros | [pəˈros] | 'hairy' | SeeRomanian phonology | ||
| Russian | Standard | корова | [kɐˈrovə] | 'cow' | SeeRussian phonology | |
| Serbo-Croatian[35] | vrt | [ʋə̂rt̪] | 'garden' | [ər] is a possible phonetic realization of the syllabic trill/r̩/ when it occurs between consonants.[35] SeeSerbo-Croatian phonology | ||
| Swedish | Southern[36] | vante | [²väntə] | 'mitten' | Corresponds to a slightly retracted front vowel[ɛ̠] in Central Standard Swedish.[36] SeeSwedish phonology | |
| Tyap | a̠tan | [ətan] | 'ɡood' | |||
| Welsh | mynydd | [mənɪð] | 'mountain' | SeeWelsh phonology | ||
| Mid central rounded vowel | |
|---|---|
| ɵ̞ | |
| ɞ̝ | |
| Audio sample | |
Languages may have amid 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 theclose-mid central rounded vowel is generally used instead. If precision is desired, the lowering diacritic can be used, ⟨ɵ̞⟩, or themore rounded diacritic with the schwa symbol, ⟨ə̹⟩, or theraising diacritic with theopen-mid central rounded vowel symbol, ⟨ɞ̝⟩, although it is rare to use such precision.
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Standard[5] | lug | [lɞ̝χ] | 'air' | Also described as open-mid[ɞ],[10] typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨œ⟩. Many speakers merge/œ/ and/ə/, even in formal speech.[5] SeeAfrikaans phonology |
| Danish | Standard[6] | hoppe | [ˈhʌ̹pə̹] | 'mare' | Possible realization of/ə/.[6] SeeDanish phonology |
| Dutch | Southern[37] | hut | [ɦɵ̞t] | 'hut' | Found in certain accents, e.g. in Bruges. Close-mid[ɵ] in Standard Dutch.[37] SeeDutch phonology |
| English | California[38] | foot | [fɵ̞ʔt] | 'foot' | Part of the California vowel shift.[38][failed verification] Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ʊ⟩. |
| French[39][40] | je | [ʒə̹]ⓘ | 'I' | Only somewhat rounded;[39] may be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ə⟩ or ⟨ɵ⟩. Also described as close-mid[ɵ].[41] May be more front for a number of speakers. SeeFrench phonology | |
| German | Chemnitz dialect[42] | Wonne | [ˈv̞ɞ̝nə] | 'bliss' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɞ⟩.[42] |
| Irish | Munster[43] | scoil | [skɞ̝lʲ] | 'school' | Allophone of/ɔ/ between a broad and a slender consonant.[43] SeeIrish phonology |
| Luxembourgish[7] | dënn | [d̥ə̹n] | 'thin' | Only slightly rounded; less often realized as unrounded[ə̜].[7] SeeLuxembourgish phonology | |
| Norwegian | Urban East[44] | nøtt | [nɞ̝tː] | 'nut' | Also described as open-mid front[œʷ];[29][45] typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨œ⟩ or ⟨ø⟩. SeeNorwegian phonology |
| Plautdietsch | Canadian Old Colony[46] | butzt | [bɵ̞t͡st] | 'bumps' | Mid-centralized from[ʊ], to which it corresponds in other dialects.[46] |
| Swedish | Central Standard[47][48] | full | [fɵ̞lː]ⓘ | 'full' | Pronounced withcompressed lips, more closely transcribed[ɵ̞ᵝ] or[ɘ̞ᵝ]. Less often described as close-mid[ø̈].[49] SeeSwedish phonology |
| Tajik | Northern dialects | кӯҳ/kūh | [kɵ̞h] | 'mountain' | Typically described as close-mid[ɵ]. SeeTajik phonology |
