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I am an ESL student. I want to speak American English fluently.

Due to influence of my local dialect in my country, I only discover that there is [ə ɐ ɪə ɑ] doubtably according to my ear, and native American English speaker speak with allophone differently in their dialect, As in:

  • Russia /ˈrʌʃə/ —> [ˈɹɐʃɐ] [ˈɹɐʃə] [ˈɹɐʃɑ]
  • Asia /ˈeɪʒə/ —> [ˈeɪʒɪə] [ˈeɪʒɑ] [ˈeɪʒɐ] [ˈeɪʒə]
  • Comma /ˈkɑːmə/ —> [ˈkɑːmə] [ˈkɑːmɑ] [ˈkɑːmɐ]
  • China /ˈtʃaɪnə/ —> [ˈtʃaɪnə] [ˈtʃaɪnɑ] [ˈtʃaɪnɐ]
  • Prussia /ˈprʌʃə/ —> [ˈprɐʃɑ] [ˈprɐʃɐ]

I think there are more allophones. Am I right? If so, please add more allophones and which is the most common one.

tchrist
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IEatMy Pizza
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    Do we really say [ˈeɪʒɑ], [ˈkɑːmɑ], [ˈtʃaɪnɑ]? I'll agree that [ɐ] and [ə] are very common allophones of schwa in American English, but I have trouble believing that many people say these words with the vowel of Arkansas or chihuahua. – Peter Shor Aug 28 '21 at 12:52
  • According to dictionaries, Arkansas is indeed [ˈɑːrkɑnsɔː] and chihuahua is [tʃɪˈwɑːwɑ]. I was thinking Arkansas ended with an /ɑ/, which I think is an uncommon (and maybe wrong) alternate pronunciation. But I don't believe many people use either of these vowels as an allophone of [ə]. (Although some people do use a /ə/ in Chihuahua.) – Peter Shor Aug 28 '21 at 13:33
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    And [ɪə] is only an allophone of schwa in a few words like Asia or Appalachia that end in ia. – Peter Shor Aug 28 '21 at 13:39
  • Let us continue this discussion in chat. – IEatMy Pizza Aug 28 '21 at 14:10
  • Vowel reduction is variable; comma [ˈkʰɔmʌ], rabbit ['ɻʷɛ̝ə̯bɨt] also occur. Related & possible dups: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. – tchrist Aug 28 '21 at 16:03
  • Offsite links also related: 1, 2, 3, 4. – tchrist Aug 28 '21 at 16:13
  • @tchrist, thanks! Did [ʌ] you used represent open-mid back unrounded vowel or Near-open central vowel? – IEatMy Pizza Aug 29 '21 at 00:57
  • @IEatMyPizza You’ll have to ask a Scot. You have to train yourself to unhear different phones, different pronunciations. You have to mentally envision only broad abstract phonemes; that's what native speakers do. Everything else is just allophonic variation from "somebody else's accent", and it doesn't count. We always know which thing was said no matter the actual realization phonetically, usually because these differences are too small to notice. Listen for the stressed syllables *only*. – tchrist Aug 29 '21 at 03:20
  • Ok. ONLY is /ˈəʊnli/. – IEatMy Pizza Aug 29 '21 at 03:26
  • VTC. This question is both lacking research and (posed as being) open-ended. – Joachim May 29 '23 at 21:16

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