s - Wyższa Szkoła Filologiczna we Wrocławiu

54
Gabriela Brozbă
Rooy and Van Huyssteen (2000), suggests that the dominant substitute for
schwa is [ɛ] in most syllabic positions, except for open final syllables. However,
he wars us that the frequency of schwa might be actually higher than it is usually
believed, but its distribution is slightly different from that of RP because of
BSAE differences in stress placement. Van Rooy (2008: 180) writes that there
also is a preference for spelling pronunciation so that [ɔ] will be heard in a word
like opportunity. Apart from that, there is a tendency to have [ʊ] between a labial
obstruent and a final lateral, in words such as double or careful. It clearly
suggests a case of transcategorial progressive assimilation of the C-to-V type.
That is, the [LABIAL] consonants, /b/ and /f/ impose the selection of a vowel
which has the feature [LABIAL] in avoiding syllabic consonants. This phenomenon
is also attested in Mesthrie (2005) where in labial contexts the vowel which
surfaces instead of schwa is [u] [4a]. In non-labial contexts other vowels are
employed, such as [ɐ] [4b] or [e] [4c] (cf. Mesthrie 2005: 144):
[4a] [ə] > [u]
[4b] [ə] > [ɐ]
[4c] [ə] > [e]
people, apple, table, syllable
single, mingle
handle, dangle
Mesthrie (2005: 144) also notes that especially in words containing low
vowels a harmonization rule seems to be applied, so that instead of schwa, the
vowel which surfaces agrees in the specification of the [± low] feature with the
preceding vowel (cf. Mesthrie 2005: 144):
[5a] government
[5b] adamant
[5c] balance
[5d] ambassador
[5e] salad
[gavɐmɛnt]
[adɐmant]
[balɐns]
[ambasɐdɐ]
[salɐd]
Reverting to Mesthrie’s study (2005), the following tendencies can be observed.
The basilectal speaker pronounces schwa only occasionally and in fast
speech for that [1d], and even for articles its occurrence is very limited: the
definite article the is pronounced with [ɐ] in ten tokens, and only in one with
schwa, whereas for the indefinite article a schwa is never heard. In word-final
suffixes a variety of vowels are used to replace a potential [ə] (cf. Mesthrie
2005: 140):
[6a] /ə/ > [i] -tion (education) [-ʃin]
[6b] /ə/ > [ɐ] -ed (wanted, started) [ɐd]
In the speech of the mesolectal user, schwa is still uncommon, while the
acrolectal speaker produced schwa in words like other or the. However, [ɐ] is
still preferred in words like tournament, victors, practical or sector.