The vowel Schwa was introduced previously in “What is Schwa?” and “The Sound of Schwa”, so if you are unfamiliar with Schwa, you can learn about it in those posts. This post is a little practice activity that comes from my Medium article: English Vowels – The Schwa (No Stress!).
Unstressed syllables often use a Schwa sound rather than a full clear vowel. Listen to the words below, to see if you can hear which vowels are schwa.
adjacent almost asleep | happen hesitate phonetic | prevalent student symbol |
The Answers:
adjacent – 2nd syllable strong with two schwas: ədjacənt
almost – 1st syllable strong, and two clear vowels
asleep – 2nd syllable strong with one schwa: əsleep
happen – 1st syllable strong, one schwa: happən
hesitate – 1st syllable strongest, just one schwa: hesətate
phonetic – 2nd syllable strong, two schwas: phənetəc
prevalent – 1st syllable strong, two schwas: prevələnt
student – 1st syllable strong, one schwa: studənt
symbol – 1st syllable strong, one schwa: symbəl
If you like this practice, there are two longer articles (with audio) about Schwa on my new Patreon page! Patreon tiers range from $2 to $100 USD per month and support my mission to create a comprehensive English pronunciation learning platform!! Come join my English pronunciation learning community on Patreon!