View source for Schwa

Mi'gmaq has five main [[vowels]] which can be either [[Sound Length|long]] or short. It also has a sixth vowel - schwa - which can ''only'' be short.

Schwa is also present in English - it's the same sound at the beginning of ''about'' (pronounced ['''ə'''baʊt]) and in the first and last syllables of ''banana'' (pronounced [b'''ə'''næn'''ə''']). Schwa in Mi'gmaq is pronounced about the same - like in ''apt'tesg'', 'it ([[Animacy|inanimate]]) is stuck', [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/words-mp3/media/a/apt%27tesg/recording1.mp3 [apt'''ə'''dɛskʰ]] (recording from the [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/ Mi'gmaq Talking Dictionary]).

This page gives a general outline of how schwa behaves in Mi'gmaq - from pronunciation to behaviour within the words of the language. A knowledge of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipa International Phonetic Alphabet], or IPA, may be beneficial for reading this page, although it is not necessary, as audio samples will be provided along with IPA transcriptions where possible. For a general overview of the IPA as it relates to Mi'gmaq, please see the [[Spelling]] page.

=Pronunciation of Schwa=

The pronunciation of schwa in ''apt'tesg'', above, is the most common pronunciation in Mi'gmaq. However, there are two other pronunciations that are less common but still attested. These are listed in order of frequency, below (for the rest of this page, lone pronunciations are from Ladefoged''s "A Course in Phonetics" online material, Mi'gmaq words are from the [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/ Mi'gmaq Talking Dictionary]):

{| class="wikitable"
|+
! Allophone||Pronunciation||Example||Transcription||Translation
|-
| align="center" | ə
| align="center" | [http://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/course/chapter1/ipaSOUNDS/Vow-15a.AIFF [ə]]
| [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/words-mp3/media/a/apt%27tesg/recording1.mp3 ''apt'tesg''] 
| [apt'''ə'''dɛskʰ]
| 'it (inanimate) is stuck'
|-
| align="center" | ɨ
| align="center" | [http://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/course/chapter1/ipaSOUNDS/Vow-02a.AIFF [ɨ]]
| [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/words-mp3/media/a/als%27g/recording2.mp3 ''als'g'']
| [als'''ɨ'''kʰ]
| 'it (inanimate) is gliding about'
|-
| align="center" | ʉ
| align="center" | [http://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/course/chapter1/ipaSOUNDS/Vow-03a.AIFF [ʉ]]
| [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/words-mp3/media/a/apu%27s%27g/recording2.mp3 ''apu's'g'']
| [abuːs'''ʉ'''kʰ]
| 'he or she warms it (inanimate) up'
|}

At least two of these pronunciations are present in English - for example, in the phrase ''Rose's roses'', the first schwa (in ''Rose's'') is pronounced as [ə] and the second schwa (in ''roses'') is most often  pronounced as [ɨ]: [ɹoʊz'''ə'''z ɹoʊz'''ɨ'''z]. The third pronunciation in the table above is not attested in English, and is very rare in Mi'gmaq.

Unlike in English, however, schwas in Mi'gmaq may bear [[stress]]. (In English, the stressed counterpart of schwa is the vowel [http://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/course/chapter1/ipaSOUNDS/Vow-20a.AIFF [ʌ]]† - in Mi'gmaq no vowel quality difference is usually present). So it is equally likely to have words like ''agnutg'' [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/words-mp3/media/a/agnutg/recording1.mp3 [àg'''ə'''nútkʰ]], 'he or she tells about it (inanimate)', and words like ''als'g'' [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/words-mp3/media/a/als%27g/recording1.mp3 [àls'''ə́'''kʰ]], 'it (inanimate) glides about'.

† A note on [ʌ] - in Mi'gmaq, this sound is considered to be another pronunciation of the vowel /a/. See ''[[Laxed Vowels]]'' for more information.

=Behaviour of Schwa=

Schwa is a special vowel with respect to the sound system of Mi'gmaq. It is often used as a default vowel that is inserted to fix bad [[Syllables|consonant sequences]] within words. It is often skipped over during assignment of [[stress]] (or accent), as if it is invisible to the system. Finally, it is one of the most common vowels to be deleted from words in pronunciation, since it has such a neutral status. Each of these topics will be discussed in more detail below.

==Epenthesis==

''For more information and examples, please see [[Writing Schwa]] and [[Syllables]]''

As stated above, schwa is often the default vowel in Mi'gmaq - it is the vowel that gets inserted or '''epenthesized''' ''into'' words when there would otherwise be a bad sequence of consonants (please note that Mi'gmaq has a separate default vowel, ''i'', that is inserted ''between'' words and morphemes if contact would otherwise result in a bad consonant sequence). This is most obvious when looking at the [[spelling]] of Mi'gmaq - for example, in words like ''o'plteg'', 'it (inanimate) is not set right)', there are '''three''' consonants that are written together: ''p'', ''l'', and ''t''. Since Mi'gmaq never allows more than '''two''' consonants to be adjacent to one another, a schwa must be inserted somewhere within this sequence. It could either be inserted between the ''p'' and the ''l'' or between the ''l'' and the ''t'' - whichever is not allowed by the restrictions on [[syllables]] within Mi'gmaq. The consonant cluster ''lt'' '''is''' allowed, because it '''falls''' in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonority_hierarchy sonority] and can be broken up into two syllables. The consonant cluster ''pl'' is '''not''' allowed by the syllabification system of Mi'gmaq - it '''rises''' in sonority and can't be split across two syllables. Therefore the schwa gets inserted there to form [o:.b'''ə'''l.dɛkʰ].

==Stress==

''For more information, please see [[Stress]]''

As mentioned above, schwa is often '''skipped over''' by the stress assignment rules of Mi'gmaq (although it is obvious that it this is not always the case from words like ''als'g'', 'it (inanimate) glides about'). In general, stress is assigned on every other syllable counting from right to left, as in ''amiet'', 'he or she is silly', pronounced [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/words-mp3/media/a/amiet/recording1.mp3 ['''à'''.mi.'''ét''']]. However, in ''agnutmuatl'', 'he or she tells him or her (obviative) something', only three syllables are ever stressed: [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/words-mp3/media/a/agnutmuatl/recording2.mp3 ['''à'''.gə.nu.de.'''mù'''.a.'''də́l''']]. Crucially, the syllable ''nu'' is '''not''' stressed. This is because neither the syllable ''gə'' nor the syllable ''də'' counts - if they did, we would expect *[à.gə.'''nù'''.də.mù.a.də́l] (where the asterisk (*) means that the form is not allowed within the language).

However, things are not always so simple. Schwa may become visible to the stress system (or countable) if certain conditions are met. These are listed below:

* When it is the first or last vowel of a word, like in ''gneg'', 'it (inanimate) is far', pronounced [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/words-mp3/media/g/gneg/recording1.mp3 ['''kə̀'''.nékʰ]] and in ''e'n'g'', 'he or she loses it (inanimate)' (pronounced [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/words-mp3/media/e/e%27n%27g/recording1.mp3 [èː.'''nə́kʰ''']]).
* When it follows a sequence of two consonants, as in ''aps'sitat'', 'he or she has small feet', pronounced [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/words-mp3/media/a/aps%27sitat/recording1.mp3 [à'''p.sə̀'''.si.dát]]

==Deletion==

Occasionally, if a schwa of Mi'gmaq is skipped over by the stress rules, it may optionally '''delete''' or disappear altogether within a pronunciation. So, for example, within the word ''agnutmuatl'', 'he or she tells him or her ([[Obviation|obviative]]) something', there are three schwas: [a.g'''ə'''.nu.d'''ə'''.mu.a.d'''ə'''l]. The first two are skipped over by the stress system (see above), giving [à.'''gə'''.nu.'''də'''.mù.a.də́l]. Either of these is subject to being deleted (although it is usually the second), giving [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/words-mp3/media/a/agnutmuatl/recording1.mp3 [à.gə.'''nud'''.mù.a.də́l]]. This is similar to what happens in Passamaquoddy (see LeSourd 1993), although it does not seem to apply on as large of a scale.

=References=
* Ladefoged, Peter. 2006. ''A Course in Phonetics''. 5th ed. Boston: Thomson Higher Education.
* LeSourd (1993) ''Accent and Syllable Structure in Passamaquoddy''. Routledge.
* [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/ Mi'gmaq Talking Dictionary]