Schwa

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Schwa[1] is the name linguists use for the most neutral of vowel sounds, the usual, weak, pronunciation of the indefinite article 'a', the gentle grunt of 'uh huh'. Its phonetic symbol is [ə].

In English, it can be represented by a number of vowel-letters: it is the u in careful, the e in worker, the a in above and the o in person.

Some languages have more than one schwa. In addition to the English one, Portuguese has [ɐ], which, as its 'a'-like symbol implies, is a little more open.

Russian final o is pronounced schwa, a fact almost never reflected in English.

The name is derived from a Hebrew word that means "emptiness" or "vanity," and it is also the name of a Hebrew vowel mark that is sometimes pronounced like a schwa, and sometimes not pronounced at all.[2]

Notes

  1. IPA /ʃwɑː/
  2. Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. "sheva".