schwu

English

Etymology

Alteration of vowel in the word schwa to more closely approximate the sound described.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃwuː/
• Rhymes: -uː

Noun

schwu (plural schwus)

1. (phonetics) An indeterminate near-back central rounded vowel sound, such as the "u" in "awful" or the initial "o" in "omission", depending on the accent; sometimes represented as [ɵ] in IPA or [ᵿ] in para-IPA.

   Coordinate terms: a-schwa, schwa, schwar, schwi

   • 2011, Patricia Ashby, Understanding Phonetics (Understanding Language), →ISBN, page 112:

     Reflecting this loss of contrast, Wells uses schwi (the so-called ‘happy-vowel’) and schwu (weak-u), replacing [ɪ] and [ʊ] and giving [ˈhæpiə] and [ˈdʒæɡuə].

   • 2023, “What’s in a pronunciation? British and U.S. transcription models in the OED: Q&A”, in Oxford English Dictionary‎, archived from the original on 24 July 2023:

     OED’s base vowel set for British English also includes [...] the barred-/ɪ/ and barred-/ʊ/ symbols (sometimes called ‘schwi’ and ‘schwu’), but these are not separate ‘phonemes’.