[ə]→[ʌ]Certainty: 5/5Commonality: 5/5

Mid central vowel to Open-mid back unrounded vowel

The shift from the neutral schwa [ə] to the open-mid back unrounded vowel [ʌ] is a primary feature of re-stressing in several English dialects. In varieties where [ə] and [ʌ] are phonetically near-identical, the distinction is purely one of stress, allowing the sounds to alternate depending on the sentence focus.

Phonetic Effects

Re-stressing, Centralization

Language Examples

General American English Germanic

was [wəz]→[wʌz]— Re-stressing of the weak form results in the caret quality.

of [əv]→[ʌv]

Modern Southern British English (RP) Germanic

does [dəz]→[dʌz]— Systematic restoration of the full vowel in stressed contexts.

Related Transformations

Reverse

More Germanic Shifts

[a] → [ã] — Assimilatory Nasalization [a] → [∅] — Elision [a] → [ʔ] — Glottalization [a] → [ə] — Vowel Reduction [æ] → [ɛ] — Vowel Raising

Sources & References

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