American English Sounds - UH [ə] Vowel - How to make the SCHWA Vowel

In this American English pronunciation

今回は曖昧母音/ə/ について学んでいきます。

video, we’re going to learn how to

pronounce the schwa vowel sound.

This vowel is always unstressed. The

この母音にはアクセントが置かれません

mouth position is a lot like the UH as in

口の中の形としては

BUTTER vowel, but that vowel can be

BUTTERの/ʌ/に近いですが/ʌ/の場合は

and usually is stressed. But just like that

強勢が置かれることが多いです

vowel, everything in your lips, jaw, and

曖昧母音は唇も、あごもそして首もすべて

neck should be relaxed for this sound.

脱力して発音します

Just slightly drop your jaw to make this

あごをほんの少し落として発音します

sound. The trick is to keep everything

脱力を忘れずに

else relaxed.

リラックス

Let’s look at the vowel up close and in

スローで確認してみましょう

slow motion.

It’s possible to make this sound on its

この音そのものは顎を落とすだけで出せますが

own with just the slightest jaw drop. But

in actual words, you will likely see a bit

実際に単語の中に登場する際は

more jaw drop, like here, on the word

このようにもう少しあごを落としたりもします

‘sofa’. Lips relaxed, cheeks relaxed,

Sofa唇も頬も脱力して, 舌は前方を向きこちらもリラックス

tongue forward and relaxed.

As I said, this vowel can only be in an

先も言いましたがこの母音は強勢のない音節の場合のみ使います。ほかの母音や二重母音はどちらでも使います

unstressed syllable. All other vowel and

diphthong sounds can either be stressed

or unstressed. So the schwa will always

be really fast and low in pitch. Uh, uh.

故に曖昧母音[ə] は速く、低めのピッチで

Sofa, uh. Ability, uh.

The schwa goes with the syllabic

曖昧母音はL,M,N,Rの音節につくとき

consonants L, M, N, and R. That means

これらの子音が曖昧母音に続いている場合

when you have a syllable with a schwa

followed by one of these consonants, you

don’t need to make the schwa. It gets

曖昧母音は発音しなくても構いません

absorbed by the next sound. For

次の音に吸収されるような形になります

example, the word ‘father’: th-rr, th-rr.

例えば、Father

Just go from the TH sound right into the

ThからRへ曖昧母音を分けて発音せず直接発音できます

R sound without trying to make a

separate schwa. Father, -ther.

The schwa: always unstressed. Uh, sofa,

曖昧母音は強調されない

uh, uh, ability, uh.

Example words. Repeat with me:

練習してみましょう

Allow, extra, data, again, visa, about.

I hope this video helps you understand

this sound. That’s it, and thanks so much

for using Rachel’s English.