Communicating schwa is impossible in written English 0 ▲ ashishb.net 3 days ago · Writing · hide It is impossible to communicate the schwa sound in written EnglishLet’s say you are trying to communicate /k/क sound in English. You can use k, c, or, if it is guttural, even q to communicate it. But what if you are trying to communicate the most neutral vowel sound known to mankind, the schwa sound /ə/अ? It is impossible to pick the right Latin letter to communicate this. There are 5 vowel letters in English. And each of them can be used to communicate the schwa sound in different words! The a in about The e in taken The i in cousin The o in button The u in upon So, what if a foreign name has a schwa sound? In some contexts, it is impossible to communicate that in written English. Schwa as the last vowel in a word Consider the first name of the Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella. The first name should be pronounced as /sətjə/सत्य/ with a schwa ending. But if you try to write it in English, you will have to write it as Satya. Which makes it Sətja/सत्या. What if you remove the a from the… Commenting on Bubbles has been removed. Why? If you want to talk about this post, write to the author, use the comments on their blog if it has them, or reply with a "RE:" post on your own blog. Suggestions? feedback@bubbles.town