Is It Would Pronounced with a Schwa in English Speech?

[fxdung]

In the phrase: "I thought it would be easy to run". I hear "it would" as ""schwa"+ would". Is that possible or my ear hearing wrong?

 

[Ibix]

Not any accent I'm familiar with. Informally, "it would" gets contracted to it'd, and some very old texts (or historical or pseudo historical novels) have characters shorten it to "'t would". The latter seems to me closer to what you say you hear, but I've never heard anybody use it who wasn't pretending to be from the Middle Ages, and it's a rather awkward contraction following "thought" because it doubles up the T sound.

 

[Hornbein]

In the phrase: "I thought it would be easy to run". I hear "it would" as ""schwa" would". Is that possible or my ear hearing wrong?

I've never heard it that way.

 

[fxdung]

It is in the learning English book: Tactics for listening English.May be it is not real English?

 

[Ibix]

As I say, I can't think of an accent or dialect that would render "it would" as "schwa". But that doesn't mean there isn't one. Without hearing it myself I can't tell you if they're mis-pronouncing it or you're mis-hearing it, I'm afraid.

 

[fxdung]

Here is audio link. I hear "it would"as "schwa+would".Time is about 1:09.

 

[Ibix]

(I found it was a bit after 1.09 - there's a woman talking at 1.09, but after she stops a man takes over and it's about the second thing he says.)

The man has what I (British) would think of as a normal American accent, which probably means Californian. He's definitely skipped over the w, so it sounds like "I thought itud be easy to run", which I would write as "it'd". I don't here any "sch" type sounds, so I'm afraid that's probably your ear.

Keep at it! I learned some Russian at school, which has some subtle sounds that simply aren't present in English, and I remember my teacher saying to us "no, that's not pronounced uy it's pronounced uy". But after a while I could hear a difference in the two way he said it, as my ear became trained to it.

 

[fxdung]

Why I do not hear "t" in "it".Now I hear "would" as 'ud". But I hear "it would"as "iud" but why not "itud"?

 

[Ibix]

It's not very strong, but it's there.

Be aware that it's actually a fairly common regional variation to drop terminal t sounds altogether and replace them with a "glottal stop", which is a very brief pause - Google will probably provide examples. That would genuinely sound like i'ud. This guy definitely isn't spitting out a hard t sound, but it's just about there.

 

[Bandersnatch]

I don't here any "sch" type sounds,

The 'schwa' sound does not sound like a 'sch'. It's the name of a relaxed vowel rendered in the international phonetic alphabet as /ə/. The second vowel is rhythm is a schwa. But what is said there is the first vowel - the /ɪ/ sound - which is a bit like schwa but with a hint of /i/ in it.

 

[Bandersnatch]

Why I do not hear "t" in "it".Now I hear "would" as 'ud". But I hear "it would"as "iud" but why not "itud"?

Maybe you're expecting too strong an enunciation here? The /t/ sound is but a short tap of the tongue. A brief interruption of the flow of air.

 

[fxdung]

That is why I was difficult to hear "t".But I do not understand why I am still difficult in hearing "i" in "it"?But I am very clearly in hearing "ud"(would)

 

[Bandersnatch]

You're not supposed to hear the actual /i/ sound. The difference between /ə/ and /ɪ/ is very minor, especially in casual speech. Don't worry about it too much if you can't tell the one from the other.
Refer to the IPA chart to find the correct tongue placement. The latter sound is sort of half-way between the /i/ (as in happy) and the schwa - where the schwa has the tongue fully relaxed, with /ɪ/ you slightly raise the front of the blade of the tongue (not the tip!). It's the vowel in 'bit' or 'hit'. If you hear yourself making an /i/ or /i:/ (i.e. longer /i/) sound, as in 'beat' or 'heat' you've raised it too much.
Pairs of words like bit-beat, it-eat, sit-seat, fit-feet are what's called minimal pairs. Practice pronouncing those until you have the two sounds well differentiated.

 

[Melbourne Guy]

@fxdung, if you have access to Microsoft Word on a PC, it can read aloud in very well structured English dialects - American and United Kingdom, for example - that might help you work through how words and sentences sound. There are also online text to speech sites that do this as well.

 

[fxdung]

Thank you for your teaching

 

[tech99]

I think you are hearing the words "thought it" as "schwa" because it is spoken in a rushed and swallowed manner. The sentence would be better as "I thought it easy to run".

 

[256bits]

Interesting thread you have started @fxdung

 

[hmmm27]

The 't' in "it" isn't completely formed ; he's gone with a glottal-stop or mid-tongue to roof-of-mouth, instead of tip-of-tongue.

Sorry, that's normal.