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

In this American English pronunciation

在这个美国英语发音教学视频里

video, we’re going to learn how to

我们将学习如何

pronounce the schwa vowel sound.

发schwa元音。

This vowel is always unstressed. The

这个元音总是非重读的。

mouth position is a lot like the UH as in

嘴型和BUTTER中的UH很像

BUTTER vowel, but that vowel can be

但是UH可以

and usually is stressed. But just like that

并且通常是重读的。但是和发UH元音一样

vowel, everything in your lips, jaw, and

你的嘴唇，下巴，和脖子

neck should be relaxed for this sound.

都应该是放松的

Just slightly drop your jaw to make this

只需稍微放低你的下巴即可发这个音

sound. The trick is to keep everything

诀窍是保持一切放松

else relaxed.

Let’s look at the vowel up close and in

让我们用慢动作近看一下如何发这个元音

slow motion.

It’s possible to make this sound on its

你可以把下巴稍微降低一点点就

own with just the slightest jaw drop. But

就可以发出这个音

in actual words, you will likely see a bit

但在实际发音的时候，你很可能会看到

more jaw drop, like here, on the word

下巴会下降更多，就像这个词sofa

‘sofa’. Lips relaxed, cheeks relaxed,

嘴唇放松，脸颊放松，

tongue forward and relaxed.

舌头向前并放松。

As I said, this vowel can only be in an

正如我所说，这个元音只能在一个

unstressed syllable. All other vowel and

非重读音节中，而所有其他元音和

diphthong sounds can either be stressed

双元音都可以被重读

or unstressed. So the schwa will always

或不重读。所以schwa总是要

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

读得非常快而且音调要低。Uh, uh

Sofa, uh. Ability, uh.

Sofa，uh. Ability，uh.

The schwa goes with the syllabic

schwa会随音节性辅音L,M,N,R而变化

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

这意味着

when you have a syllable with a schwa

当你有一个schwa的音节

followed by one of these consonants, you

跟着一个音节性辅音(L,M,N,R中的一个）

don’t need to make the schwa. It gets

你不需要发schwa这个音

absorbed by the next sound. For

它被下一个声音吸收了

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

例如，“father”一词：th-rr，th-rr。

Just go from the TH sound right into the

只需从TH声音直接进入R

R sound without trying to make a

不用单独发schwa

separate schwa. Father, -ther.

Father, -ther.

The schwa: always unstressed. Uh, sofa,

schwa总是非重读的。Uh, sofa

uh, uh, ability, uh.

uh, uh, ability, uh

Example words. Repeat with me:

示例单词。跟我读

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

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.