Vowel reduction to Schwa by Estonian learners of English: a case study

Abstract

The aim of the study is to observe the pronunciation of schwa as a consequence of vowel reduction in the speech of Estonian learners of English. These aspects of Estonian EFL learners’ pronunciation have not been empirically studied before. It was hypothesized that Estonian learners of English may transfer an acoustically similar L1 sound over to their L2 English pronunciation. A two-part pronunciation test was conducted on twenty Estonian EFL learners and ten native British English speakers, and their results were acoustically analyzed. The thesis is divided into two chapters. The first chapter focuses on reduction, the schwa vowel, and previous research. The second chapter presents the empirical analysis of the pronunciation test. The results reveal that L1 Estonians reduce vowels in a native-like manner and they have created a separate phonetic category for the English schwa vowel. Keywords: phonetics, pronunciation, vowel reduction, schwa, Estonian learner English