1. Unstressed Syllables, Schwa and Syllabic Consonants

2. Unstressed Syllables
Weak (reduced) vowel → shorter, weaker in energy and closer to schwa /ә/ in place of articulation
Vowels of weak syllables:
Schwa /ә/
/i/ (finally or before a vowel): happy, react
/ɪ/ (before a consonant): panic, elect
/(j)u/ (before a vowel or before a a stressed syllable): intuition, regulate, united
/(j)ʊ/ (before a consonant plus an unstressed syllable): stimulus, soluble
No vowel, just a syllabic sonorant /m n l r/: final, recent
/ɪ/ and /ʊ/ may also function as full vowels

3. Unstressed Syllables
Before the stressed syllable: never more than 2 weak syllables
e.g. if the stressed syllable is the fourth syllable:
justifi'cation halluci'nation
After the stressed syllable: may be 3 weak syllables (in words with certain endings)
e.g.: candidacy impenetrable
harvest, biggest, family
Weak vowels: often free variation

4. Schwa
No prevocalic schwa in English
Preconsonantal schwa
Often interchangable with /i/
(spelling: usually /i/ or /e/ not followed by r)
Word-initial schwa: a- or o-
Word-final schwa – almost /ʌ/

5. Syllabic Consonants
Schwa followed by a sonorant (/n, l/ and less frequently /m, ŋ, r/) → /ә/ often drops out → the sonorant becomes syllabic
[l]
[n]
[r]
Word-final
pedal, quarrel
button, dozen
(not possible)
Preconson.:
bottled, penalty
hadn’t, certainly
(rare:) literal [ -r l]
Prevocalic
crystallize, traveller
listening, definition
cigarette, cemetery

6. Syllabic Consonants Syllabic /l/: always dark
Examples with syllabic [m]: prism, handsome
Examples with syllabic [ŋ]: bacon, we can go
Syllabic: acts as the “vowel” of the syllable
Only occur in unstressed syllables
How are syllabic consonants indicated in transcription?

7. Sources
Baloghné Bérces Katalin, Szentgyörgyi Szilárd. Az angol nyelv kiejtése -The Pronunciation of English. Available from:
Kreidler, Charles W. The Pronunciation of English: A Course Book in Phonology. Oxford; Cambridge: Blackwell, 1999.
BBC Learning English webpage
Nádasdy, Ádám. Practice Book in English Phonetics and Phonology. Budapest: Nemzeti Tankönyvkiadó, 2003.