3min chapter

The InFluency Podcast cover image

9. The Schwa: How One TINY Sound Can Make a HUGE Difference

The InFluency Podcast

CHAPTER

How to Reduce Primary Stress in English

English is not a phonetic language. And it means that not what you see is not what you get. The first thing you need to do is to identify what the primary stress is. On what syllable would you snap your fingers, clap your hands, nod your head? America. Now what can you reduce? Think about it. From all these vowels, a me, ri, ka. What don't we have to pronounce? So we already agreed that the me is the primary stress. It's the A as in red. But what about the rest? We don't pronounce any of those vowels because all of them are reduced to a schwa. There is

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