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Re: USAGE: Schwa and syllabification

From:Joe <joe@...>
Date:Friday, March 12, 2004, 16:58
Trebor Jung wrote:

>Merhaba! > >My spelling textbook claims that the second syllable of 'little' has a schwa >in it; my immediate reaction was "What? Isn't it [lItl=]?". So now I'm >wondering, how do you tell the difference between schwa and syllabification? >(So for example is 'mechanic' [m@k&nIk] or [mk=&nIk]??) > >
Schwa is a vowel. So, the vibration of the vocal chords begins before the consonant is produced. Syllabification, on the other hand, means that you do not start vibrating your vocal chords until you are producing the consonant. I pronounce 'little' [lIt@l], but many pronounce it, as you say, [lItl=].