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The Schwa Sound
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What do these words have in common?
- teacher
- sofa
- doctor
- again
- celebrate
They all have the schwa sound /ə/. This is the most common sound in spoken English.
English is a stress timed language, when we speak we focus on the key words such as the nouns/main verbs/adjectives and adverbs. For other words; auxiliary verbs, linkers, prepositions and articles are not usually stressed so they are spoken faster.
The same applies for individual words. If a word has more than 1 syllable, not all are given equal emphasis when spoken.
Listen to the examples and think about these questions:
- How many syllables does it have?
- Is there a schwa sound? Where?
- Where is the stress?
| teacher | How many syllables does it have? 2 Is there a schwa sound? Where? yes, second syllable Where is the stress? first syllable |
/’ti:tʃə/ |  |
| sofa | How many syllables does it have? 2 Is there a schwa sound? Where? yes, second syllable Where is the stress? first syllable |
/’səʊfə/ |  |
| doctor | How many syllables does it have? 2 Is there a schwa sound? Where? yes, second syllable Where is the stress? first syllable |
/’dɒktə/ |  |
| again | How many syllables does it have? 2 Is there a schwa sound? Where? yes, first syllable Where is the stress? second syllable |
/ə’gen/ |  |
| celebrate | How many syllables does it have? 3 Is there a schwa sound? Where? yes, second syllable Where is the stress? first syllable |
/ˈseləbreɪt/ |  |