Global InformationMid central vowel information
| Mid central vowel | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ə | |||
| IPA Number | 322 | ||
| Audio sample | |||
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source · help | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) | ə | ||
| Unicode (hex) | U+0259 | ||
| X-SAMPA | @ | ||
| Braille |  | ||
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Legend: unrounded • rounded |
The mid central vowel (also known as schwa) is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ə⟩, a rotated lowercase letter e, which is called a "schwa".
While the Handbook of the International Phonetic Association does not define the roundedness of [ə],[1] it is more often unrounded than rounded. The phonetician Jane 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."[2] 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.[3]
Danish[4] and Luxembourgish[5] have a mid central vowel that is variably rounded. In other languages, the change in rounding is accompanied with the change in height and/or backness. For instance, in Dutch, 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/.[6]
The symbol ⟨ə⟩ is often used for any unstressed obscure vowel, regardless of its precise quality. For instance, the English vowel transcribed ⟨ə⟩ is a central unrounded vowel that can be close-mid [ɘ], mid [ə] or open-mid [ɜ], depending on the environment.[7]
- ^ International Phonetic Association (1999), p. 167.
- ^ "A World of Englishes: Is /ə/ "real"?". 19 June 2013. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
- ^ Wissing (2016), section "The rounded and unrounded mid-central vowels".
- ^ Basbøll (2005), p. 143.
- ^ Gilles & Trouvain (2013), p. 70.
- ^ Collins & Mees (2003), p. 129.
- ^ Wells (2008), p. XXV.