Practice question · True or false
Schwa occurs only in unstressed syllables in English.
Hints
- Try to think of a stressed syllable containing it.
- Stressing the syllable changes the vowel to something else.
Show the answer
True
Why
True, and the restriction is absolute enough to be a diagnostic: if you can stress a syllable and keep the vowel, it was not schwa. Stressing the first syllable of about produces a different vowel entirely, which is why schwa and stress are two views of the same system.
Practise English Vowels II: Diphthongs and Reduction
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More questions on English Vowels II: Diphthongs and Reduction
- How many diphthongs does the standard analysis of RP recognise?
- Why does a speaker who uses only full forms become harder to follow, not easier? Select every true statement…
- Sort each item by whether it is a CLOSING diphthong, a CENTRING diphthong, or a MONOPHTHONG.
- Vowel reduction is frequently mischaracterised as phonetic sloppiness, yet phonologically it is a systematic…
- Complete the account of reduction.
- The centring diphthongs of RP are stable and show no signs of change.
- Arrange the stages by which a full vowel becomes schwa in a derived word.