the 'uhn' sound at the end is called a schwa, in linguistics

We use it all the time for unstressed vowel sounds (ie, in 'chicken', the first vowel is the one you stress).

So basically, in loads of words, we actually pronounce the unstressed vowel the same however it's actually spelt.

We do it naturally. But it's often what marks out non-native English speakers - they tend to pronounce unstressed vowel sounds according to how they are spelt - ie differently, according to the letter in the spelling. Which is logical, but sounds unnatural to us.

So pronouncing a it bit like 'chickun' - where the second vowel sounds is kind of indistinct, and is pretty much the same as the second 'e' in 'Webber', say - is what marks you out as a completely fluent English speaker...

Posted By: Tricky Hawes, May 25, 09:08:14