schwa

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See also: Schwa

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Etymology 1

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Borrowed from German Schwa, from Hebrew שווא / שְׁוָא (shva, šəwā, (mark mostly indicating absence of a vowel sound)), borrowed from Classical Syriac ܫ̈ܘܰܝܳܐ (š'wayyā, literally even, equal), in Syriac a term for a sign consisting of two vertical dots used to separate parts of a sentence.[1] Doublet of shva.

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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schwa (plural schwas)

  1. (phonetics) An indeterminate central vowel sound as the "a" in "about", represented as /ə/ in IPA.
    Synonyms: natural vowel, neutral vowel
    Hyponym: schwar
    Coordinate terms: a-schwa, e-schwa, i-schwa, schwar, schwi
    • 1882, B. W. Wells, “The Ablaut in English”, in Transactions of the American Philological Association, page 67:
      The participle has also, owing to the accent, the lightest possible forms; but here there was no reduplication, and so in class I. the "schwa" took the form e before single mutes or fricatives, and elsewhere o.
    • 2006 April 27, Sylvia Moosmüller, Theodor Granser, “The spread of Standard Albanian: An illustration based on an analysis of vowels”, in Language Variation and Change, volume 18, number 2, Cambridge University Press, →DOI:
      However, word-final unstressed schwa is deleted even by the speakers from South Albania, though to different degrees and dependant on the speech style []
  2. The character ə.

Verb

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schwa (third-person singular simple present schwas, present participle schwaing, simple past and past participle schwaed)

  1. (phonetics, of a vowel sound, rare) To be reduced to schwa.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Further reading

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  1. ^ אהרן דותן (דויטשר) (Aron Dotan a.k.a. Aron Deutscher) (1953) “שמותיו של השוא בראשיתו של הדקדוק העברי (The names of the schwa at the beginning of Hebrew grammar)”, in Lĕšonénu: A Journal for the Study of the Hebrew Language and Cognate Subjects / לשוננו: כתב-עת לחקר הלשון העברית והתחומים הסמוכים לה[1], volume י"ט (19), number קובץ מיוחד תשי"ד (special file 2014), Academy of the Hebrew Language, pages 13-30

Etymology 2

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Noun

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schwa (plural schwas)

  1. Alternative form of shva

Anagrams

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Italian

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Borrowed from German Schwa or English schwa, from Hebrew שווא / שְׁוָא (sh'va ,š’vā, nought).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): */ˈʃva/, */ʃeˈva/*, */ʃəˈva/*, */ˈʃwa/
  • Rhymes: -a

Noun

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schwa m or f (invariable)

  1. (phonetics) schwa (mid-central vowel)

Portuguese

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from English schwa.

Pronunciation

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  • (Brazil) IPA(key): /ʃuˈa/ [ʃʊˈa], (faster pronunciation) /ˈʃwa/, /ʃeˈva/
 

Noun

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schwa m (plural schwas)

  1. (phonetics) schwa (mid-central vowel)