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xkcd #2907: Schwa (imgs.xkcd.com)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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https://xkcd.com/2907

Alt text:

Doug's cousin, the one from London, runs a Bumble love cult.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Out of curiosity, what words does your accent pronounce without a schwa? Every single vowel sound in that is a schwa sound in those sentences sounds perfectly natural to me with a schwa sound.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (2 children)

/wɒts ʌp? wʌz dʌg gənə kʌm? dʌg lʌvz bɹʌntʃ. nʌʔʌ dʌgz stʌk kɒz ɒv ə tʌnəl ɒbstɹʌkʃən. ə tɹʌk dʌmpt ə tʌn ɒv ʌnjənz. əχ./

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

For me it's more like
/wɒts ʌp? wɒz dʌg gənə kʌm? dʌg lʌvz bɹʌnʧ. nɜːʔɜː dʌgz stʌk kʌz ɒv ə tʌnəl əbstɹʌkʃən. ə tɹʌk dʌmpt ə tʌn ɒv ʌnjənz. əχ./

(Gimsonian, anyway, I like the newer, more logical style that would have nurse be /nəːs/)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Interestingly, "ʌ" is not used in many American linguistics sources, from Merriam Webster to Google Translate. In American English and many dialects of British English (and many others), there is little to no difference between 'ʌ' and 'ə.' I believe 'ʌ' is considered an allophone of 'ə,' which aren't always listed for vowel sounds in IPA.

The distinction is called the comma-strut split (referenced in the xkcd explainer), and occurs in a minority of English dialects apparently. I didn't realize Australian English was one of them! Cool.