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Schwa-Free

An open list of 42 words by pterodactyl.

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About

Words of more than one syllable that include no schwas in their pronunciation.

(Note for pedants: some of these words have more than one pronunciation. As long as just one of the possible pronunciations fits the criterion, the word is acceptable for this list.)

Comments

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  • pterodactyl Well, I guess it depends on your dialect, Milos. Personally, I have a schwa for the "o" in "encyclopedic", but if you don't, I'll cheerfully add it to the list. Sep 25, 2009

  • milosrdenstvi Funny but I was just thinking of this tonight, and came up with encyclopedic. Not sure... Sep 25, 2009

  • pterodactyl John just plugged this list on Twitter (thanks John! I like it too!), so I'm going to return the favor. If you guys aren't following Wordie on Twitter, you should be. It's like John's panning for gold in our stream of consciousness. :-) Sep 25, 2009

  • chained_bear After my "Fun with Chachalacas" event yesterday afternoon, I began to wonder if the inverse of this list is logically "three-or-more-syllable words that contain ONLY schwas." Apr 29, 2009

  • bilby But-I-do! Apr 29, 2009

  • chained_bear Only if you pause as if there were hyphens in it. Apr 29, 2009

  • bilby kleptomaniac is one of those words I'm uncomfortable pronouncing with a clear o as it then resembles hokey trade names like toast-o-matic and so on. Apr 29, 2009

  • pterodactyl When I say "kleptomaniac", the second vowel is an [o] in my mind, but it comes out of my mouth as a schwa.

    Nevertheless, I know that some people pronounce the [o] as an [o], so onto the list it goes! Apr 28, 2009

  • yarb Mmm, I think I'd have to pronounce it carefully to be sure, cb. Certainly doesn't sound wrong with a schwa to my ear. Apr 28, 2009

  • chained_bear I don't know that I've ever heard it pronounced without the long O. Has anyone else? *curiouser*

    P.S. This is indeed a nice list! Apr 28, 2009

  • milosrdenstvi As mentioned elsewhere, kleptomaniac is a possibility, provided one is careful to pronounce a long o on the second syllable. Apr 28, 2009

  • reesetee Wow. This whole page hurts my brain in a delightful way. Apr 16, 2009

  • pterodactyl *stares open-mouthed*

    It's... it's...

    It's too much for the human mind to comprehend.

    *faints* Apr 16, 2009

  • mollusque You ain't seen nothing yet. How about twelve syllables? Pronunciation available here. Apr 16, 2009

  • pterodactyl *applauds*

    Mollusque, you're amazing. Radioassaying! I had to look it up to be sure -- you've found a SIX SYLLABLE word that's pronounced without schwas!

    *very impressed indeed* Apr 15, 2009

  • mollusque How about radioassaying? I put the stress on the first syllable of assaying, so there's no schwa. Apr 15, 2009

  • chained_bear It's not a schwa. It's a diphthong. No? I consider it this sound: ü (not a schwa). Apr 14, 2009

  • pterodactyl I keep saying "neurotic" over and over again, trying to figure out what vowel I have for the first syllable. The problem is that the vowel is colored by the r that follows it. It could be a schwa, but honestly, I can't really tell.

    Perhaps I should stop repeating "neurotic" to myself. I don't want the other people in this computer lab to worry... Apr 14, 2009

  • qroqqa Angioneurotic is six syllables and would work in all accents, I believe. Apr 14, 2009

  • qroqqa The OED's second edition uses traditional RP, in which unstressed /ɪ/ is the same phone as when stressed: so words like indivisibility or remitted have the same vowel throughout. Present-day RP and near-RP (such as Estuary) however aligns with most other accents of English in having [ə] for many of the unstressed positions. The third edition revision (which won't cover D for a long time) uses the symbol <ɨ> to indicate that both phones are possible.

    Edit: Actually it's dotless crossed <i>, which isn't exactly the IPA cardinal symbol; I'd need to use strikethrough to show it, but that doesn't seem to work. Apr 14, 2009

  • pterodactyl It occurs to me, mollusque, that I surrounded my IPA transcription with slash marks (/), which refer to phonemes. This was a mistake. I was actually talking about phones, so I should have used square brackets, like this: [dɪsən'hɪbəɾɪŋ].

    As far as phonemes go, well, you're right. I only have ɪ's for you.
    Apr 14, 2009

  • mollusque I'd say /dɪsɪn'hɪbɪɾɪŋ/, not that I've used it in conversation. OED gives all the i's in disinhibit the same value. Apr 14, 2009

  • pterodactyl Disinhibiting, in my dialect, is /dɪsən'hɪbəɾɪŋ/. How do you guys pronounce it? Apr 14, 2009

  • pterodactyl Why, thank you, chained_bear! As an incorrigible pedant myself, I felt I needed to accommodate my nitpicking brethren. :-) Apr 14, 2009

  • chained_bear I just love ptero's "Note for pedants." Apr 14, 2009

  • bilby As skip noted, accent has a lot to do with it. Disinhibiting would be close to five-schwa star performer in New Zealand. Apr 14, 2009

  • strev Free the schwa! Long live the schwa!
    (I have a lot to learn here)
    Apr 14, 2009

  • mollusque Sionnach apparently finds these challenges to be disinhibiting. Apr 14, 2009

  • sionnach Why, I guess I've been using schwa-free words all my live without ever even knowing. Aw shucks!

    It was either come up with something fast, or spend half the night tossing and turning, rejecting potential candidates in my brain.

    And, no thanks. I will pass on the big five-syllable challengeª.

    ª: If only this were really true. Damn you, ptery, you cruel fiend! Apr 14, 2009

  • pterodactyl Sweet Buddha on a bicycle, that was fast, sionnach!

    *applauds* Apr 14, 2009

  • sionnach This is inhumane. Ptero is treating us ìnhumanely.

    Booya! Apr 14, 2009

  • sionnach Is http://dictionary.cambridge.org/assets/phonetics/a3.png"> a schwa? Apr 14, 2009

  • pterodactyl Now, how about a four-syllable word?... Apr 14, 2009

  • pterodactyl Thank you all for your effusive response! I love you guys. :-)

    That said, I must note that most of your submissions do, in fact, have schwas, at least in my dialect. Per my own rules, I'll still add them if you can give me an example of a dialect that pronounces them without schwas.

    In the meantime, special gold stars go to yarb and sionnach for "judaize" and "grotesquely", both of which fit the bill nicely.


    Apr 14, 2009

  • skipvia Words like deleted work if you're not from the South... Apr 14, 2009

  • yarb polytheism. Apr 14, 2009

  • sionnach I'm never really sure what a schwa is, but would "grotesquely" or "curiosity" fit the bill? Apr 14, 2009

  • yarb misfortune? judaize? Apr 14, 2009

  • pterodactyl WORDIE CHALLENGE:

    Find me a word for this list that's three or more syllables long.

    Proper nouns don't count. Apr 14, 2009