Construct · 1 fields · 1 citations

schwa: a standalone construct

One name. One construct. A landmark on the map.

● anchor · a single construct in one field Nearest construct by meaning·not indexed
schwa1 CONSTRUCTSchwaSCHWA · MID-CENTRAL

A single standalone construct; nearby constructs are located against it in the Collider. Tap a field for its definition, unit, and measures.

Phonetics

The neutral mid-central vowel of unstressed syllables

Schwa is the mid-central vowel produced with the tongue in a neutral, resting position, transcribed with the symbol ə, and in English it is the sound of most unstressed syllables, such as the first vowel of about or the last of sofa. Ladefoged and Johnson's A course in phonetics describes it as the reduced vowel toward which unstressed syllables gravitate. The referent is a specific vowel quality defined by tongue position and the acoustics of the resulting formants, central to how stress and vowel reduction work in a language.[1]

Unit
A mid-central vowel quality defined by neutral tongue position and its formants
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
Identified by its first and second formant frequencies near the centre of the vowel space and by its occurrence in unstressed positions

Next

Run it through the Collider, or take the citations with you.

See how schwa sits against neighbouring constructs in the Collider, or export every reference on this page in one click.

Open in ColliderExport BibTeXReport this entry

Nearby constructs

neutral2 fields · 2 citationsjingle · one word, two constructs

References

  1. Ladefoged, P., & Johnson, K. (2014). A course in phonetics (7th ed.). Cengage Learning. ISBN 9781285463407

Cited on this page?

Confirm your construct, or correct us.

If your work is cited behind one of these entries, you know better than we do whether we captured the meaning right. Confirm it, suggest an edit, or dispute it, and your name goes on the entry as an author who has checked it, linked to your ORCID.

Claim your construct