Unstressed Syllables, Schwa and
Syllabic Consonants
Unstressed Syllables


Weak (reduced) vowel → shorter, weaker in energy
and closer to schwa /ә/ in place of articulation
Vowels of weak syllables:
–
–
–
–
–
–

Schwa /ә/
/i/ (finally or before a vowel): happy, react
/ɪ/ (before a consonant): panic, elect
/(j)u/ (before a vowel or before a a stressed syllable):
intuition, regulate, united
/(j)ʊ/ (before a consonant plus an unstressed syllable):
stimulus, soluble
No vowel, just a syllabic sonorant /m n l r/: final, recent
/ɪ/ and /ʊ/ may also function as full vowels
Unstressed Syllables

Before the stressed syllable: never more than 2
weak syllables
e.g. if the stressed syllable is the fourth syllable:
justifi'cation
+ --+ -

After the stressed syllable: may be 3 weak syllables
(in words with certain endings)
e.g.: candidacy
+ - - -


halluci'nation
- +- + -
impenetrable
- + - - -
harvest, biggest, family
Weak vowels: often free variation
Schwa



http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/gr
ammar/pron/sounds/vowel_short_5.shtml
No prevocalic schwa in English
Preconsonantal schwa
Often interchangable with /i/
(spelling: usually /i/ or /e/ not followed by r)
– Word-initial schwa: a- or o–

Word-final schwa – almost /ʌ/
Syllabic Consonants

Schwa followed by a sonorant (/n, l/ and less
frequently /m, ŋ, r/) → /ә/ often drops out → the
sonorant becomes syllabic
[l]
[n]
[r]
Word-final
pedal, quarrel
button, dozen
(not possible)
Preconson.:
bottled, penalty
hadn’t, certainly
(rare:) literal [ -r l]
Prevocalic
crystallize,
traveller
listening,
definition
cigarette,
cemetery
Syllabic Consonants






Syllabic /l/: always dark
Examples with syllabic [m]: prism, handsome
Examples with syllabic [ŋ]: bacon, we can go
Syllabic: acts as the “vowel” of the syllable
Only occur in unstressed syllables
How are syllabic consonants indicated in
transcription?
Sources




Baloghné Bérces Katalin, Szentgyörgyi Szilárd. Az
angol nyelv kiejtése -The Pronunciation of English.
Available from:
http://mek.oszk.hu/04900/04910/04910.pdf
Kreidler, Charles W. The Pronunciation of English: A
Course Book in Phonology. Oxford; Cambridge:
Blackwell, 1999.
BBC Learning English webpage
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/gr
ammar/pron/sounds/vowel_short_5.shtml
Nádasdy, Ádám. Practice Book in English Phonetics
and Phonology. Budapest: Nemzeti Tankönyvkiadó,
2003.