Hi again and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English pronunciation podcast.

My name is Mandy and this is our 170th episode.

Let's talk about schwa plus R.

The schwa plus R sound is an R controlled vowel.

I haven't talked about R controlled vowels for a while, so let's review a little bit.

In North American English, the R sound is pronounced when it follows a vowel.

This is different from British English and

received pronunciation, which have a non-rotic accent. People who speak with non-rotic accents

don't pronounce the R sound when the R sound follows a vowel unless the R is followed by another vowel sound.

In American English, we say the R sound no matter what sounds are before and after the R.

The schwa plus R sound is a special R controlled vowel because rather than just the R following the vowel sound,

it takes over the vowel sound.

You see, schwa plus R is essentially the same sound as a regular R sound.

The difference between a regular R sound and schwa plus R is that

schwa plus R replaces the vowel sound of a word and creates a syllable.

Listen closely.

We don't hear any real vowel sound in the words her, girl, burn, learn, or work.

Nor do we hear a vowel sound in the final syllable of the word doctor.

Let's explore those six words a little bit to notice the long list of spelling patterns associated

with Schwa Plus R.

We have E-R, Her, I-R, Girl, U-R, Burn, E-A-R, learn, W plus OR, work, and OR on an unstressed syllable, doctor.

Luckily, although Schwa plus R has those complex spelling patterns, it's not so difficult to pronounce

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