Reduced Vowels in Unstressed Syllables: The Schwa /ə/ Sound
In Spanish all the vowels are pronounced fully, whereas in English vowels in unstressed syllables almost disappear and become a reduced schwa /ə/ sound. For example, the word normal exist in both languages. In Spanish both vowels, the o and a sounds are pronounced. In English, the word sounds like /ˈnoɚməl/. The second vowel, the a is changed to a short, reduced /ə/ sound because it's part of the unstressed syllable.
| Spanish | English | |
| chocolate | chocolate /ˈtʃɑ:klət/ | |
| control | control /kənˈtroʊl/ | |
| familiar | familiar /fəˈmɪljɚ/ |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you!