reduced vowel
- noun
- /rɪˈdjuːst ˈvaʊəl/
- Specialized
:
vocal reducida
- In English, many unstressed syllables have a reduced vowel sound.
Examples
-
The word 'sofa' contains a reduced vowel in the second syllable.
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The pronunciation of 'about' starts with a reduced vowel.
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Many English unstressed syllables are pronounced with a reduced vowel.
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The word 'sofa' contains a reduced vowel in its second syllable.
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Many English unstressed syllables are pronounced with a reduced vowel.
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The pronunciation of 'about' starts with a reduced vowel.
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The word 'sofa' contains a reduced vowel in its second syllable.
Antonyms
How Reduced
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is directly compositional: 'reduced' (made smaller/weaker) combined with 'vowel' (a speech sound) yields a vowel that is weakened or shortened, which matches the definition. Although technical, this concept is cross-linguistically common (unstressed/centralized vowels), so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words can reasonably infer the meaning.
Etymology
Reduced vowel comes from the idea of a vowel that is reduced—made softer and weaker in weak syllables, like the quick 'uh' at the start of 'about' or the last syllable of 'sofa'. So it means a vowel spoken with less force in a weak syllable.