Shiggidy shiggidy schwa?

Ah, the glories of higher education. Due to my linguistics course, I now know what a "schwa" is.

Say "photograph" slowly. No, really, say it. Now say it at normal speed. The first syllable is stressed, so at normal speed you do say "pho." The second syllable, however, is unstressed. You end up warping the "o" into a sort of "uh." That vowel that results from warping unstressed vowels is called a "schwa."

Additionally, if you have a vowel and an 'r', it works a little differently. "Four for four dollars" becomes "four fuhr four dollars." This is called a "schwar."

What's interesting to me is that we seem to parse the schwa back into its original vowel. I think that might be my research topic for this class when it comes time to do that.

-=-raptur-=-

p.s. yes tommu, I thought of you when I first heard this, you unmockingspoof you