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xkcd #2907: Schwa
(imgs.xkcd.com)
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this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2024
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I bet these sentences sound super weird if you try to pronounce them without using any schwas.
You would probably just sound like a non-native speaker. I assume it would be similar to weak forms and how weak forms are usually absent from non-native english speech.
As a non-native speaker, I was kinda confused at first by this comic because in my head the vowels definitely didn't sound all the same. But I personally consider pronunciation of vowels in English to be one of the greatest mysteries in the universe, so no wonder.
As a native English speaker and Spanish learner, consistent vowel pronunciation is so incredible. 🥺 Just looking at a word and knowing how to pronounce it… amazing stuff. Kind of wild that in some languages you don’t have the ‘curse of the self educated’ (randomly mispronouncing words you’ve only read, not heard spoken).
Yeah that blew my mind about Spanish. I was like, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN ALL THESE VOWELS ALWAYS HAVE THE SAME SOUND??? YOU ARE ALLOWED TO DO THAT!??"
Then I started trying to learn to conjugate verbs and I was like ohhhhh, ok, so fuck me.
I was BAFFLED to learn at 35 that “awry” does not rhyme with “glory”.
Non-native to where? These aren't all schwa in all English-speaking nations. They're not even all schwa in all US dialects.
Language is crazy.
Great.. now it reads like Apu from Simpsons.
Do you mean Apu?
Abu was the monkey in Aladdin
Yes.
Sounds like you're still learning english