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In IPA, what is the difference between ə and ʌ?

English Language & Usage Asked by StrixVaria on December 3, 2020

In all the examples I’ve seen they seem to be the same sound.

Examples of ə:

  • a in about
  • a in comma

Examples of ʌ:

  • u in run
  • o in won

I am trying to decipher the difference between these sounds but they seem identical to me. Is it because of my dialect (American English), or is there a very subtle difference that I should look out for?

2 Answers

In English, the only real difference between these two is that [ʌ] occurs in stressed syllables, and [ə] occurs in unstressed syllables. There is a slight acoustic difference between the two ([ʌ] is supposed to be a tiny bit lower and possibly backer than [ə]), but it is so slight that it is virtually indistinguishable.

Also note that many full vowels become [ə] when unstressed in English (e.ɡ. [sɔlɪd], but [səlɪdɪfaɪ]).

(This distinction is only for English, in other languages these phonemes can pattern completely differently.)

Correct answer by Kosmonaut on December 3, 2020

The problem is some people who use something other than General American English, (British?) see words like the 'a' in sofa or adore as an ə using, but in GAE that's not really the case. in British 'sofa' would clearly be 'soʊfʌ' because they seem to lengthen the final a more than GAE. In many cases there isn't a recognizable difference between the two in GAE. Take a word like 'columbus'. In GAE that would be kəlʌmbəs. GAE's ʌ is shorter than British ʌ but is still longer than GAE's ə.

Answered by jastako on December 3, 2020

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