Schwa

In Albanian, schwa is represented by the letter ⟨ë⟩, which is also one of the letters of the Albanian alphabet, coming right after the letter ⟨e⟩. It can be stressed like in words i ëmbël /i əmbəl/ and ëndërr /əndər/ ('sweet' and 'dream', respectively).

In Armenian, schwa is represented by the letter 〈 ը 〉 (capital 〈 Ը 〉). It is occasionally word-initial but usually word-final, as a form of the definite article. Unwritten schwa sounds are also inserted to split initial consonant clusters; for example, ճնճղուկ (čnčłuk) [tʃʼəntʃʼə'ʁuk] 'sparrow'.

In the Azerbaijani alphabet, the schwa character 〈ə〉 is used, but to represent the /æ/ sound.

In Catalan, schwa is represented by the letters 〈a〉 or 〈e〉 in unstressed syllables: pare /ˈpaɾə/ ('father'), Barcelona /bəɾsəˈlonə/. In the Balearic Islands, the sound is sometimes also in stressed vowels, pera /ˈpəɾə/ ('pear').

In Dutch, the digraph ⟨ij⟩ in the suffix -lijk [lək], as in waarschijnlijk [ʋaːrˈsxɛinlək] ('probably'), is pronounced as a schwa. If an ⟨e⟩ falls at the ultimate (or penultimate) place before a consonant in Dutch words and is unstressed, it becomes a schwa, as in the verb ending -en (lopen) and the diminutive suffix -tje(s) (tafeltje(s)). The article "een" ('a[n]') is pronounced using the schwa, [ən], while the number "een" ('one') or "één" is pronounced [e:n].

In German, schwa is represented by the letter 〈e〉 and occurs only in unstressed syllables, as in gegessene.

Schwa is not native to Bavarian dialects of German spoken in Southern Germany and Austria. Vowels that are realized as schwa in Standard German change to /-e/, /-ɐ/, or /-ɛ/.

In compound words, like Fernweh, and borrowed terms, like Effekt, unstressed 〈e〉 is not reduced and retains its usual value of /eː/ (if long) or /ɛ/ (if short).

The schwa is rarely used in Korean phonology. It is an alternative form of /ʌ/. For example, 호떡 (hotteok) [ho.t͈ək̚].

In Madurese, an 〈a〉 in some words, usually in non-final position, would be pronounced as the schwa. When writing Madurese in its traditional abugida, Hanacaraka, such words would not be written with a vowel diacritic denoting a schwa. Nowadays, even after the Madurese people have adopted the Latin alphabet, such writing fashion is still used. Examples are:

• Jhabah (/dʒəbəh/) – Javanese, Java Island
• sagara (/sagərə/) – sea, ocean
• lajar (/lədʒər/) – to sail
• Sorbaja (/sorbədʒə/) – Surabaya
• Madura (/madurə/) – Madurese, Madura Island
• Bulan (/bulən/) – Moon

In the Indonesian variant, schwa is always unstressed except for Jakarta-influenced informal Indonesian, whose schwa can be stressed. In final closed syllables in the formal register, the vowel is 〈a〉 (the final syllable is usually the second syllable since most Indonesian root words consist of two syllables). In some cases, the vowel 〈a〉 is pronounced as a stressed schwa (only when the vowel 〈a〉 is located between two consonants in a syllable), but never in formal speech:

• datang ('come'), pronounced [dɑːˈtʌŋ], and often informally written as dateng.
• kental ('viscous'), pronounced [kənˈtʌl].
• hitam ('black'), pronounced [hiˈtʌm], informally written as item.
• dalam ('deep', 'in'), pronounced [dɑːˈlʌm], often written as dalem.
• malam ('night'), pronounced [mʌˈlʌm], informally written as malem.

Indonesian orthography formerly used unmarked ⟨e⟩ only for the schwa sound, and the full vowel /e/ was written ⟨é⟩. Malaysian orthography, on the other hand, formerly indicated the schwa with ⟨ĕ⟩ (called pĕpĕt), and unmarked ⟨e⟩ stood for /e/.

In the 1972 spelling reform that unified Indonesian and Malaysian spelling conventions (Ejaan yang Disempurnakan, regulated by MABBIM), it was agreed to use neither diacritic.[8] There is no longer an orthographic distinction between /ə/ and /e/; both are spelled with an unmarked ⟨e⟩. For example, the word for 'wheeled vehicle' in Indonesia and Malaysia, which was formerly spelled keréta in Indonesia and kĕreta in Malaysia, is now spelled kereta in both countries. This means that the pronunciation of any given letter ⟨e⟩ in both Indonesian and Malaysian variants is not immediately obvious to the learner and must be learned separately. However, in a number of Indonesian dictionaries and lesson books for foreign learners, the notation is preserved to help learners.

In Southern Malaysian pronunciation, which is predominant in common Malaysian media, the final letter represents schwa, and final 〈-ah〉 stands for /a/. The dialect of Kedah in northern Malaysia, however, pronounces final 〈-a〉 as /a/ also. In loanwords, a non-final short /a/ may become schwa in Malay such as Mekah (<Arabic Makkah, Malay pronunciation [ˈməkah]).

In Norwegian, the schwa is often found in the last syllable of definite, masculine nouns, as in mannen Norwegian pronunciation: ['mɑnən] ('the man'), as well as in infinitive verbs like bite Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈbîːtə] ('bite').

In Romanian, schwa is represented by the letter 〈Ă〉, 〈ă〉, which is considered a letter on its own (the second in the Romanian alphabet). It can be stressed in words in which it is the only vowel such as păr /pər/ ('hair' or 'pear tree') or văd /vəd/ ('I see'). Some words which also contain other vowels can have the stress on 〈ă〉: cărțil /ˈkərt͡sile/ ('the books') and odăi /oˈdəj/ ('rooms').

In Serbo-Croatian, schwa is not a phoneme, but it is often colloquially used to pronounce names of consonants. For example, the official name of the letter ⟨p⟩ is pronounced /pe(ː)/, but in everyday speech, it is often called /pə/.

The schwa is denoted in Welsh by the letter 〈y〉. It is a very common letter as y is the definite article with yr being the definite article if the following word starts with a vowel.

Schwa is normally represented in Yiddish by the Hebrew letter 〈ע〉 (Ayin) and, as in German, occurs only in unstressed syllables, as in געפֿילטע פֿיש‎ (gefilte fish) /ɡəˈfɪltə fɪʃ/ ('stuffed fish'). In words derived from Hebrew, which retain their original orthography but undergo significant phonological change, schwa may be represented by another letter, as in רבי‎ (rebe) /ˈrɛbə/ ('rabbi'), or by no letter at all, as in שבת (shabes) [ˈʃa.bəs] ('Shabbat').

Although the Devanagari script is used as a standard to write Modern Hindi, the schwa (/ə/, sometimes written as /ɑ/) implicit in each consonant of the script is "obligatorily deleted" at the end of words and in certain other contexts.[9] The phenomenon has been termed the "schwa deletion rule" of Hindi.[9][10] One formalization of the rule has been summarized as ə → ∅ /VC_CV. In other words, when a vowel-preceded consonant is followed by a vowel-succeeded consonant, the schwa inherent in the first consonant is deleted.[10][11] However, the formalization is inexact and incomplete (it sometimes deletes a schwa that exists, and it fails to delete some schwas that it should) and so can yield errors. Schwa deletion is computationally important because it is essential to building text-to-speech software for Hindi.[11][12]

As a result of schwa syncope, the correct Hindi pronunciation of many words differs from that expected from a literal rendering of Devanagari. For instance, राम is Rām (expected: Rāma), रचना is Rachnā (expected: Rachanā), वेद is Vēd (expected: Vēda) and नमकीन is Namkīn (expected: Namakīna).[11][12]

Correct schwa deletion is critical also because the same Devanagari letter sequence can sometimes be pronounced two different ways in Hindi depending on the context: failure to delete the appropriate schwas can then change the meaning.[13] For instance, the sequence धड़कने in दिल धड़कने लगा ("the heart started beating") and in दिल की धड़कनें ("beats of the heart") is identical prior to the nasalization in the second usage. However, it is pronounced dhadak.ne in the first and dhad.kaneṁ in the second.[13]

While native speakers correctly pronounce the sequence differently in different contexts, non-native speakers and voice-synthesis software can make them "sound very unnatural", making it "extremely difficult for the listener" to grasp the intended meaning.[13]

Some forms of American English have the tendency to delete a schwa when it appears in a mid-word syllable that comes after the stressed syllable. Kenstowicz (1994) states, "American English schwa deletes in medial posttonic syllables". He gives as examples words such as sep(a)rate (as an adjective), choc(o)late, cam(e)ra and elab(o)rate (as an adjective), where the schwa (represented by the letters in parentheses) has a tendency to be deleted.[14] Other examples include fam(i)ly (listen), ev(e)ry (listen), and diff(e)rent (listen).

Schwa is deleted in certain positions in French.