Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English pronunciation

podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 73rd episode. In the pronuncian forums, S.V. Crow

asked when the word of can be produced to just a, also known as

the schwa sound. First of all, I was glad that S.V. Crow didn't ask when of of is pronounced

with any kind of sound the O spelling typically uses, because it isn't any of them. In fact, it is the

schwa sound. Remember, schwa is a reduced vowel sound. It occurs on an unstressed syllable,

often next to a stressed syllable in a word that has more than one syllable.

Here is a pop quiz for you listeners that have been listening for a long time.

What two sounds do Americans use for the schwa sound?

Which of those sounds is more common?

Ready for the answers?

The schwa can be pronounced as either the short I or the short U sound,

and the short U is more common.

An example of the short I being used for schwa

is in the ED endings that follow a T sound or a D sound,

as in blasted and listed.

Could you hear the short eye sound,

i in those ED endings. endings? Lasted. Listed.

An example of schwa being pronounced as a short U sound is the first syllable of the word

connect, or the second syllable of the word vitamin. Could you hear the short

you uh in the words connect and vitamin? Connect, connect, vitamin.

Remember, nearly any vowel spelling can be pronounced as schwa, as long as it is an unstressed syllable.

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