A Conversation for How do I...?

Schwa

Post 1

Mikonet

How do I write a schwa (upside down e) in a Guide entry?


Schwa

Post 2

Phil

Looks like it could be difficult.
I've had a look at some websites showing the standard encoding used on the web (iso-8859-1) and the schwa isn't one of them.

It's a problem that's been seen with greek characters as well smiley - sadface


Schwa

Post 3

Mikonet

hmmmm....thanks for checking for me. Guess I'll have to continue using "the sound like 'u' in butter. smiley - erm


Schwa

Post 4

Wand'rin star

If we're talking English phonetics(or any other that I've come across), your mean the "er" sound in "butter" The sign for the "u" looks like a capital A without the line across the centre. Sorry to be so picky, but I've spent a lot of my life learning, and teaching, this stuff


Schwa

Post 5

Mikonet

smiley - smiley Thanks
Perhaps I'm not looking for a schwa then.....there is a sound in Mandarin and several other languages (expressed in pinyin by "e") that someone told me sometime or other was the same sound as a schwa....so the way I came up with the "u" in butter is that was the only word I could think of offhand that would be spoken the same by British, Aamerican, Australia, and Hong Kongers.....perhaps not the best choice....do you have another suggestion for the American "uh" sound?


Schwa

Post 6

Wand'rin star

Sorry,I've taken so long on this. My American colleagues do pronounce the 'uh" sound as in "butter". The Brits and Australians and HK Chinese don't, so it's a good job I didn't jump in immediately. All of us use a long schwa for the sound in "bird": some of us put some sort of r colouring after it and some don't. Everyone seems to have the same short schwa in the first syllable of "about"though we mangle the second syllable in six different ways.
HTH


Schwa

Post 7

Is mise Duncan

I don't know - but http://www.unicode.org probably do.


Schwa

Post 8

Mikonet

Thank you! The a in about was the sound I was looking for!


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