schwa

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English

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Etymology 1

Borrowed from German Schwa, from Hebrew שווא / שְׁוָא (shva, šəwā, “(mark mostly indicating absence of a vowel sound)”), borrowed from Classical Syriac ܫ̈ܘܰܝܳܐ (š'wayyā, literally “even, equal”), in Syriac a term for a sign consisting of two vertical dots used to separate parts of a sentence.[1] Doublet of shva.

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

schwa (plural schwas)

  1. (phonetics) An indeterminate central vowel sound as the "a" in "about", represented as /ə/ in IPA.
    Synonyms: natural vowel, neutral vowel
    Hyponym: schwar
    Coordinate terms: a-schwa, e-schwa, i-schwa, schwar, schwi
    • 1882, B. W. Wells, “The Ablaut in English”, in Transactions of the American Philological Association, page 67:
      The participle has also, owing to the accent, the lightest possible forms; but here there was no reduplication, and so in class I. the "schwa" took the form e before single mutes or fricatives, and elsewhere o.
    • 2006 April 27, Sylvia Moosmüller, Theodor Granser, “The spread of Standard Albanian: An illustration based on an analysis of vowels”, in Language Variation and Change, volume 18, number 2, Cambridge University Press, →DOI:
      However, word-final unstressed schwa is deleted even by the speakers from South Albania, though to different degrees and dependant on the speech style […]
  2. The character ə.

Verb

schwa (third-person singular simple present schwas, present participle schwaing, simple past and past participle schwaed)

  1. (phonetics, of a vowel sound, rare) To be reduced to schwa.
Derived terms
Translations

Further reading

  1. ^ אהרן דותן (דויטשר) (Aron Dotan a.k.a. Aron Deutscher) (1953) “שמותיו של השוא בראשיתו של הדקדוק העברי (The names of the schwa at the beginning of Hebrew grammar)”, in Lĕšonénu: A Journal for the Study of the Hebrew Language and Cognate Subjects / לשוננו: כתב-עת לחקר הלשון העברית והתחומים הסמוכים לה‎, volume י"ט (19), number קובץ מיוחד תשי"ד (special file 2014), Academy of the Hebrew Language, pages 13-30

Etymology 2

Noun

schwa (plural schwas)

  1. Alternative form of shva

Anagrams

Italian

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from German Schwa or English schwa, from Hebrew שווא / שְׁוָא (sh'va ,š’vā, “nought”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): */ˈʃva/, */ʃeˈva/*, */ʃəˈva/*, */ˈʃwa/
  • Rhymes: -a

Noun

schwa m or f (invariable)

  1. (phonetics) schwa (mid-central vowel)

Portuguese

Alternative forms

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English schwa.

Pronunciation

  • (Brazil) IPA(key): /ʃuˈa/ , (faster pronunciation) /ˈʃwa/, /ʃeˈva/
 

Noun

schwa m (plural schwas)

  1. (phonetics) schwa (mid-central vowel)
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