Schwa /ə/
The schwa is the most common vowel sound in American English and can be made with any vowel. The schwa is a vowel sound in an unstressed syllable. It is key to both word and sentence stress.
How to make this sound
This vowel sound is short and quick. It sounds like “uh.” The tongue is relaxed and resting in the center of the mouth. Don’t move your tongue forward, back, up, or down. Do not tense your tongue muscle. The mouth is slightly open and the jaw is relaxed.
“uh”
Problems for non-native speakers
Many non-native speakers have trouble making this sound because they retain too much tension in the jaw, lips and tongue. To start retraining the tongue muscles to achieve the neutral position of schwa, actively push down the tongue so is flat. Once the tongue position is correct, relax the muscles completely and take a moment to become aware of lips, tongue, and jaw placement. The goal is to eventually have this be a neutral, relaxed position, not a tense one.
Read the below, being sure to maintain tongue position on the schwa. Do all the underlined vowels sound the same? Do they all sound like a short, quick “uh”?
Schwa in an unstressed syllable
- consider supplies
- computer support
- produce solutions
- compare results
- global awareness
Practice schwa in an unstressed syllable.
1. We compared the original data, and agreed on a solution.
2. The amount of supplies and continuous support produced another amazing result.