Temporal and Spectral Reduction of Vowels in English Weak Syllables

Abstract

Individual syllables in English polysyllabic words display several levels of prominence, of which the lowest one corresponds to the so-called weak syllables. The most common nucleus (and often the only constituent) of weak syllables is the mid central 'schwa’.

Our study explores durational and spectral properties of schwa in British and analogous Czech English material. The findings bear on methodology of pronunciation teaching in Czech classrooms where vowel reduction poses a serious problem not only in speech production, but also in speech perception.