In Received Pronunciation the word butter has two distinct vowels. The first vowel is a little lower than the second. However, speakers from many parts of Wales, western England and the midlands have identical vowels. They use the schwa in both stressed and unstressed syllables.
For speakers who have stressed schwas, the following words have identical vowels:
cupboard
mother
runner
summer
supper
Identical vowels can also occur in words with more than two syllables. In the word another, the schwa is realized in every syllable. The only difference between the vowels is that the stressed one has longer duration.
In Standard English the schwa is only produced in unstressed syllables. However, a number of speakers in Wales and England also have the schwa in stressed syllables. In words such as but, cup and lunch, they use the schwa.
No comments:
Post a Comment