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Glite Dictionary
murmur vowel

murmur vowel

9.9
A very weak vowel sound you hear after some consonants in weak syllables
  • noun
  • /ˈmɜrmər ˈvaʊəl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : vocal murmur
  • The word 'button' contains a murmur vowel in the pronunciation of the 't' and 'n'.

Examples

  • She demonstrated the difference between a clear schwa and a murmur vowel in speech analysis.

  • The murmur vowel is often found in unstressed syllables.

  • Phoneticians study how a murmur vowel can occur after syllabic consonants.

  • What is a murmur vowel?

  • In linguistics, a murmur vowel can often be heard in the pronunciation of unstressed syllables.

  • When analyzing accents, he noted that the murmur vowel appears after certain consonants.

  • Children sometimes produce a murmur vowel when they say words quickly and softly.

Synonyms

schwa
vsmurmur vowel
  • Specialized
1 9.9

A weak 'uh' sound in parts of words that are not stressed, like the 'a' in banana

is the same sound but produced incidentally during certain consonant articulations

Surface Forms

murmur vowel singular
murmur vowels plural

Morphology

murmur + vowel

The phrase literally combines 'murmur' (a soft, indistinct sound) with 'vowel' (a voiced speech sound), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it refers to a vowel produced with a murmuring or breathy quality. The technical detail about it being a schwa produced incidentally during certain consonants is specialized, but the basic compositional meaning is immediately derivable.

Etymology

Murmur vowel comes from the image of a very soft, whisper-like murmur of a vowel that 'sneaks in' after consonant sounds like 't' or 'n'. That's why the term means a quiet, tiny 'uh' sound that appears in weak syllables.