Medial schwa

Medial schwa is more complex, since it has any of the full realisations of [a e i o u] according to phonological environment. The medial schwa subset therefore has to be broken down into 5 further divisions to allow for these subtypes (see table 1 below).

Follow the links for the statistical material pertaining to each subtype.

Environment	‘a-schwa’	‘e-schwa’	‘i-schwa’	‘o-schwa’	‘u-schwa’
J – after /j/	serious	requires	—	canyon	—
L – before /l/	normal	novel	privilege	ecological	people
N – before /n/	balance	stolen	tension	second	unfortunate
M – before /m/	tantrum	cinema	—	freedom	—
P – before labials (including /w/, excluding /m/)	supposed	celebratory	responsible	bishop	—
F – before /f/ and /v/	paraffin	benefit	beautifully	renovation	—
H – before /h/ in following syllable	—	—	—	alcohol	—
R – before /r/ in following syllable	primary	funeral	inspiration	memory	—
K – before velars	stomach	subjects (n)	certificate	allocated	—
G – ‘other’ (before [θ ð t d s z ʃ ʒ tʃ dʒ], i.e. before coronals, excluding [n l r], plus alveopalatals)	brothers	biggest	stupid	carrots	—
I – after /i:/ in preceding syllable	—	—	even	—	—

Table 1. Example tokens of 5 types of medial schwa by structural environment.