everyone-can-use-english/1000-hours/sounds-of-american-english-old/2.1.5-ə.md

2.1.5. ə/ɚ/ɝː

ə 在美式英语中有三个版本，非重读音节央元音 ə（schwa），儿化短元音 ɚ 和儿化长元音 ɝː。

In American English, there are three versions of the sound ə, including the schwa ə, which is used in unstressed syllables, the rhotacized short vowel ɚ, and the rhotacized long vowel ɝː.

初学者容易矫枉过正，遇到所有的 ə 都要读成儿化音…… 比如，可能会把 focus ˈfoʊkəs 错读成 ˈfoʊkɚs。

Beginners tend to overdo it and add a r whenever they encounter these sounds, for example, mispronouncing focus ˈfoʊkəs as ˈfoʊkɚs.

ɚ 和 ɝː 这两个儿化音，有两种发声方式，一种是凭直觉卷起舌尖（无论是前卷还是后卷，都被称作 Retroflex R），这也是绝大多数初学者发这个音的唯一选择。

The rhotacized ɚ and ɝː sounds, can be produced in two different ways. Most beginners instinctively curl their tongue tip (where forward or backword) to produce this sound, which is called Retroflex R, as it's generally the only method they're familiar with.

由于这个音发声时的舌头动作是别人看不见的，所以，人们在学这个发音的时候，无法猜到第二种方式（被称作 Bunched R）：舌尾部分抬起来，略微后缩，使舌的两侧接触到后牙。舌尾的中心部分较低，空气通过这个凹槽产生声音。

Since the tongue's movements are invisible during speech, it's difficult for learners to guess the second method, called Bunched R, which involves lifting the back part of the tongue, pulling it back a bit, and allowing the sides of the tongue to touch the back teeth. The center of the tongue's rear is slightly lowered, creating a groove for the air to pass through and generate the sound.

以下是另外一个角度的图示¹ ：

Here's another illustration from different perspective¹ :

事实上，其他的儿化音也都可以用这种方式发声。不妨用这种方式重新试试 card kɑːrd, mark mɑːrk；再试试 door dɔːr, short ʃɔːrt, poor pʊr, your jʊr…… 试过之后，再进行比较，你会发现更多的时候，第二种方式比第一种方式更方便。

In fact, you can use this method to pronounce other rhotacized vowels as well. Give it a shot with words like card kɑːrd and mark mɑːrk again; and then try it out with door dɔːr, short ʃɔːrt, poor pʊr, and your jʊr... After giving it a try, you'll notice that more often than not, the second method is more convenient than the first.

在美式英语中，人们在说儿化音的时候，使用第二种方式（Bunched R）更多。即便是使用第一种方式（Retroflex R），舌尖无论是前卷还是后卷，都一样，绝不会贴到龈脊上。

In American English, more often than not, people prefer using the second method (Bunched R) when making the rhotacized sound. Even if they use the first method (Retroflex R), the tip of the tongue, whether curled forward or backward, never touch the alveolar ridge behind the teeth.

另外，辅音 ʃ/ʒ、tʃ/dʒ 在发音的时候，舌尾也是同样的位置。

Moreover, when pronouncing the consonants ʃ/ʒ (2.2.8) and tʃ/dʒ (2.2.10), the position of the back part of the tongue is the same.

注意，在连贯的自然语音中，很多非重音音节的元音，都有被简化成 ə（schwa）的倾向，尤其是 ɪ。比如，individual, ˌɪndəˈvɪdʒuəl，实际上会被读作 ˌɪndəˈvɪdʒəʷəl —— u 也变成了 ə，而后 u 和 ə 之间有个加音 ʷ…… 事实上，现在已经有很多词典干脆直接标注成了后者。

Keep in mind that in fluent, natural speech, many unstressed vowel sounds in syllables are often simplified to ə (schwa), especially ɪ. For instance, individual ˌɪndɪˈvɪdʒjʊəl, is often actually pronounced as ˌɪndəˈvɪdʒəʷəl - u also becomes ə, and there's a added ʷ sound between u and ə… In fact, many dictionaries now straightforwardly use the latter phonetic annotation.

拼写（Spellings）

ə

• a
  • about əˈbaʊt
  • banana bəˈnæn.ə
  • sofa ˈsoʊ.fə
• e
  • open ˈoʊ.pən
  • problem ˈprɑː.bləm
  • synthesis ˈsɪn.θə.sɪs
• i
  • animal ˈæn.ɪ.məl
  • president ˈprez.ɪ.dənt
  • pupil ˈpjuː.pəl
• o
  • bacon ˈbeɪ.kən
  • lesson ˈles.ən
  • pilot ˈpaɪ.lət
• u
  • circus ˈsɝː.kəs
  • medium ˈmiː.di.əm
  • support səˈpɔːrt
• ou
  • courageous kəˈreɪ.dʒəs
  • famous ˈfeɪ.məs
  • humorous ˈhjuː.mə.rəs

ɚ

• er
  • better ˈbet̬.ɚ
  • butter ˈbʌt̬.ɚ
  • teacher ˈtiː.tʃɚ
• or
  • actor ˈæk.tɚ
  • doctor ˈdɑːk.tɚ
  • editor ˈed.ɪ.t̬ɚ
• ar
  • beggar ˈbeɡ.ɚ
  • burglar ˈbɝː.ɡlɚ
  • collar ˈkɑː.lɚ
• ure
  • culture ˈkʌl.tʃɚ
  • figure ˈfɪɡ.jɚ
  • pressure ˈpreʃ.ɚ

ɝː

• er
  • her hɝː
  • term tɝːm
  • clerk klɝːk
• ear
  • earn ɝːn
  • earth ɝːθ
  • heard hɝːd
• ir
  • bird bɝːd
  • first ˈfɝːst
  • stir stɝː
• ur
  • burn bɝːn
  • nurse nɝːs
  • turn tɝːn
• or
  • word wɝːd
  • world wɝːld
  • worse wɝːs

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1. This illustration comes from https://globalspeechtherapy.com/how-to-teach-the-r-sound/ ↩︎