Ə: The Most Common Vowel in English
“Schwa” is the most common vowel in English. Every English speaker uses it, all the time, but most people have never heard of it. •
Written with Molly Ruhl and Gretchen McCulloch. Gretchen’s podcast Lingthusiasm is at http://lingthusiasm.com/
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Graphics by William Marler: https://wmad.co.uk
Audio mix by Graham Haerther: https://haerther.net
REFERENCES:
Trask, R. (1997). A student’s dictionary of language and linguistics. London : New York: Arnold ; Distributed by St. Martin’s Press.
Lacabex, E., & Gallardo-del-Puerto, F. (2018). Explicit phonetic instruction vs. implicit attention to native exposure: phonological awareness of English schwa in CLIL, International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching (published online ahead of print).
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@TomScottGo
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
I had to reshoot this entire video because I set the lighting up wrongly. When I made the /ɑ/ noise, the back of my throat was illuminated as brightly as my face. It was uncomfortable to watch.
@Mrh8913
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
3:54 thankfully I learned English watching YouTube videos and picking up what different words may mean and then double checking each sentence I say to insure the meaning of each word is correctly understood.
@3niknicholson
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
0:42 I'm not posh and I say bath like you say posh people say it, gie's a break
@edspace.
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
For me, "I am going to the store" is reduced to "Amr gowen te stuwer" (one thing I learned was not to "a going" as in "I'm a going to the store") although I assume by store you mean short for "storehouse" (a.k.a. warehouse) although I gather some use the term "store" to mean "shop" so if that were the meaning I'd instead be changing what I'd say to a verbal form as "Amr gow shaapen" ("I'm a go shopping", sorry for the two a letters in "shaapen" I lack an umlaut to place on the extended vowels).
@2sdd
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
3:05 u sound like me speaking english XD
@dan74695
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
"Finite" has the stress on "fi-" though.
@jasonlastname129
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
Y can also be a schwa. syringe.
@dan74695
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
0:46 Don't you have that sound in "father"?
@Youcef__509
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
The whole Algerian dialect depends on this sound more than any other language 🇩🇿🔥
@TinyかわいいGamer
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
At least how i say definite, it definitely has an "i" sound as in ick, not a schwa.
@tygical
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
i thought ʌ was more common than ə
@artman40
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
Things is, even phonetic languages have schwas when talking very fast.
@mak1709-y9v
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
yay!
@philuhhh
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
3:06 Shouldn't it be "/ðə/ store" instead of "/ðiː/ store"? In school I've been taught that the latter is only allowed in front of words that begin with a vowel (so, not "store") or colloquially to lay maximum emphasis on the subject – which is also not the case here, as Tom is very much pointing out the "normal" way to pronounce the sentence here.
Can somebody please explain?
@FrostyButter
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
0:07 How a baker knows if they're too sick to go to work 🤔
@bud-yo
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
I remember this
@alinadejuan6867
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
Əɛ
@GriffinForte
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
Remove it
@olivia_am3230
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
2:55 I say [sep er ate] [choc o lute] [cam er a]
@ramamonato5039
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
"Reducing vowels to schwa" occurs because English is a stress-timed language.
@ramamonato5039
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
Do you undestand my using of schwa here?
ə ˈpraɪvət kɒnvəˈseɪʃn
ˈlɑːst ˈwiːk aɪ ˈwent tə ðə ˈθɪətə. aɪ hæd ə ˈverɪ gʊd ˈsiːt. ðə ˈpleɪ wəz ˈverɪ ˈɪntrɪstɪŋ. aɪ ˈdɪdnt ɪnˈdʒɔɪ ɪt. ə jʌŋ ˈmæn ən ə jʌŋ ˈwʊmən wə ˈsɪtɪŋ bɪˈhaɪnd miː. ðeɪ wə ˈtɔːkɪŋ ˈlaʊdlɪ. aɪ gɒt ˈverɪ ˈæŋgrɪ. aɪ ˈkʊdnt ˈhɪə ðɪ ˈæktəz. aɪ ˈtɜːnd raʊnd. aɪ ˈlʊkt ət ðə ˈmæn ən ðə ˈwʊmən ˈæŋgrɪlɪ. ðeɪ ˈdɪdnt ˈpeɪ ˈenɪ əˈtenʃn. ɪn ðɪ ˈend, aɪ ˈkʊdnt ˈbeə ɪt. aɪ ˈtɜːnd raʊnd əˈgen. aɪ ˈkɑːnt ˈhɪə ə ˈwɜːd ! aɪ sed ˈæŋgrɪlɪ.
ɪt s ˈnʌn əv jə ˈbɪznɪs, ðə jʌŋ ˈmæn sed ˈruːdlɪ. ˈðɪs ɪz ə ˈpraɪvət kɒnvəˈseɪʃn !!
@PhoenixOfTheSkies
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
🇰🇿?
:3
@polishjoker6416
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
3:00
@Iwilldoitsomeday
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
This is a normal video
@Nyaalexi
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
English may be hard to learn, but it's still, and likely always will be, the only language I know. It may be hard to learn for non-native speakers, but it's not as hard as some others.
@rhondamontgomery3797
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
I've been "əb'sess" with the schwa since childhood
@meem2Greene-ju3cs
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
Iminagotothstore
@FanoWarFan
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
I pronounce definite with an i sound as in it.
@MagentaFilmCompany
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
george bernard shaw brought me here
@rubenkoker1911
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
gh means it is the G in dutch, for a dutchman english spelling reveals the etymology of a word
@politicstoday8002
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
Love the ʒ and ç more
@ZippiestZippy
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
ə
@jacobpottage6938
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
ħaɒʋ ʔɑ jy?
@WillMarkert
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
How do you type a schwa?
@hemlock_for_the_gods
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
Its a freakin partial derivative
@KittyPurrBoy
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
Hi, a non native English speaker here, i have too much to say about this so I'll only say that it took me years to understand English vauls, i complained a lot during those years and your spelling & vauls still look like a mess to me
@cpu_1292
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
I love "upside down e"rma
@BennoRob95
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
It’s all gone to Schwa
@Resident_Cajun
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
It should just be added as there is a letter for it, it’s just an uh sound
@vhanzesp
September 28, 2025 at 3:11 am
ə
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