Schwa of Catalan

In unstressed syllables Catalan often has a schwa. This is different from Spanish. Here are examples of the schwa in Catalan:

aigua (water)
cosa (thing)
Europa (Europe)
febre (fever)
geografia (geography)
pare (father)
punta (tip)
taula (table)
teatre (theatre)
torre (tower)

In the examples the schwa occurs word-finally. The schwa in Catalan only occurs in unstressed position. The Spanish spoken in Mallorca is an exception because in this dialect the schwa can even occur in stressed position. In the dialect of western Catalan the schwa occurs less frequently than in other dialects. In the word geografia, the schwa occurs in the syllable gra as well as in word-final position. Both of these syllables are unstressed.

One of the features which distinguishes Catalan from Spanish is the schwa. As in English, the schwa occurs in unstressed position. As the examples illustrate, the schwa is a very common vowel in Catalan.