Schwa deletion, or schwa syncope, is a phenomenon that sometimes occurs in Assamese, Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu), Bengali, Kashmiri, Punjabi, Gujarati, and several other Indo-Aryan languages with schwas that are implicit in their written scripts. Languages like Marathi and Maithili with increased influence from other languages through coming into contact with them also show a similar phenomenon. Some schwas are obligatorily deleted in pronunciation even if the script suggests otherwise. Here, schwa refers to an inherent vowel in the respective abugida scripts, not necessarily pronounced as schwa (the mid central vowel ).
Schwa deletion is important for intelligibility and unaccented speech. It also presents a challenge to non-native speakers and speech synthesis software because the scripts, including Devanagari, do not indicate when schwas should be deleted.
For example, the Sanskrit word "Rāma" (, राम) is pronounced "" (, ) in Hindi. The schwa (ə) sound at the end of the word is deleted in Hindi. However, in both cases, the word is written राम.
Overview The schwa is not deleted in ancient languages such as Sanskrit, as well as the modern registers of the Odia and Sinhala languages. The schwa is also retained in all the Dravidian languages – such as Tamil, Telugu, Tulu, Kannada, and Malayalam – since they are not part of the Indo-Aryan language family. According to Masica (1993), there has been not "any attempt to deal with it [schwa deletion] (and medial vowel loss in general) in systematic fashion either descriptively or historically across all NIA [New Indo-Aryan] languages."
LanguagesMid schwa deletionFinal schwa deletionAssameseRetainsSometimesBengaliSometimesSometimesGujaratiSometimesDeletesHindustani (Hindi-Urdu)DeletesDeletesKashmiriDeletesDeletesMarathiSometimesSometimesNepaliRetainsSometimesOdiaRetainsRetainsPunjabiSometimesDeletesSanskritRetainsRetainsSinhalaRetainsRetains
Schwa deletion Different Indian languages can differ in how they apply schwa deletion. For instance, medial schwas from Sanskrit-origin words are often retained in Bengali even if they are deleted in Hindi. An example of this is which is pronounced () in Sanskrit, (() in Hindi and (() in Bengali. While the medial schwa is deleted in Hindi (because of the ə → ∅ / VC_CV rule), it is retained in Bengali.
On the other hand, the final schwa in is deleted in both Hindi and Bengali (, , ).
Assamese The Assamese equivalent for schwa is the open-mid back rounded vowel or . Assamese deleted this vowel at the end of consonant-final words, with a few exceptions such as numerals. In clusters, it is deleted in words like (, ), (, ) while optional in the word (, ). Modern Standard Assamese developed the schwa in words like (, ), (, ), (, ) which appear with different vowels in some other dialects, like , , in some Kamrupi dialects. Eastern (and its sub-dialect, Standard) and Central Assamese retained the schwa in medial positions, like (, ), (, ), (, ), (, ), (, ), which were deleted in some of the Kamrupi dialect, while some others kept them as . Conjuncts in Sanskrit loanwords always have the schwa, and in consonants ending words (that are followed by schwa), the schwa is optionally present in words ending with suffixes, for example, from Sanskrit (, ) is pronounced both as and .
Bengali The Bengali equivalent for schwa is the open-mid back rounded vowel . In open non-initial syllables, in syllables following an or another , and in syllables preceding an or , it is raised to close-mid .
Word-final schwa is generally deleted, unless preceded by a consonant cluster or an . For example, Sanskrit (, ) becomes Bengali , while (, ) and (, ) retain the final schwa and become and , respectively. However, tatsamas often retain the final schwa after certain suffixes, in some unnaturalized bisyllabic words and in the first part of compounds.
Word-medial schwa is generally deleted only when it precedes an open syllable in polysyllabic words. For example, () is now pronounced , where the medial schwa was lost as the next syllable is open. However, this deletion does not occur before or after consonant clusters, and, again, unnaturalized tatsamas resist it.
Gujarati Gujarati has a strong schwa deletion phenomenon, affecting both medial and final schwas. From an evolutionary perspective, the final schwas appear to have been lost prior to the medial ones. According to Cardona, the word-final schwa deletion occurred during the transition from Middle Gujarati to Modern Gujarati.
Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu)
Although the Devanagari script is used as a standard to write Hindi, the schwa () implicit in each consonant of the script is "obligatorily deleted" at the end of words and in certain other contexts, unlike in Sanskrit. That phenomenon has been termed the "schwa syncope rule" or the "schwa deletion rule" of Hindi. One formalisation of this rule has been summarised as ə → ∅ /VC_CV. In other words, when a schwa-succeeded consonant (itself preceded by another vowel) is followed by a vowel-succeeded consonant, the schwa inherent in the first consonant is deleted. However, this rule sometimes deletes a schwa that should remain and sometimes fails to delete a schwa when it should be deleted. The rule is reported to result in correct predictions on schwa deletion 89% of the time.
Schwa deletion is computationally important because it is essential to building text-to-speech software for Hindi.
As a result of schwa syncope, the Hindi pronunciation of many words differs from that expected from a literal Sanskrit-style reading of Devanagari. For instance, is pronounced (not , as in Sanskrit), is pronounced (not ), and is pronounced (not ). The name of the script itself is pronounced , not .
Correct schwa deletion is also critical because the same letter sequence is pronounced two different ways in Hindi depending on the context. Failure to delete the appropriate schwas can then change the meaning. For instance, the letter sequence is pronounced differently in (, meaning or ) and (, meaning ). Similarly, the sequence in () and in () is identical prior to the nasalisation in the second usage. However, it is pronounced in the first and in the second. While in the word the final schwa is deleted, making it and not Namaka, the similarly spelt word is pronounced , also dropping the schwa in between the m and k.
While native speakers pronounce the sequences differently in different contexts, non-native speakers and voice-synthesis software can make them "sound very unnatural", making it "extremely difficult for the listener" to grasp the intended meaning.
Kashmiri In the Dardic subbranch, Kashmiri similarly demonstrates schwa deletion. For instance, () is the Sanskrit word for grape, but the final schwa is dropped in the Kashmiri version, which is ().
This pattern extends beyond Sanskrit borrowings and is observable in everyday vocabulary when compared with other modern Indo-Aryan languages. In Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu), the word kēlā ( / ) retains the final (to some extent, as well as medial) vowel -ā and a respectively, while in Kashmiri the same word undergoes both medial as well as final schwa deletion, surfacing as (). Similarly, Hindustani santarā ( / ) preserves the final vowel, whereas Kashmiri deletes it, resulting in (). Such examples illustrate that Kashmiri exhibits more extensive and regular schwa deletion than many neighboring Indo-Aryan languages, contributing to its distinct phonological profile.
Maithili Maithili's schwa deletion differs from other neighbouring languages. It does not delete interconsonantal schwa, but shortens it, i.e., ə → ə̆ / VC_CV applies to the language in middle positions, and ə → ∅ / VC_CV in final. Word-final अ [a] is always deleted, except in monosyllabic words, non-syllabic य /e̯/ final words, if preceded by any non-central vowel and conjunct final words. For example, (), prie̯ə or even prije̯ (), and śāstra. In the middle position, it is shortened to [a] , if unstressed. The stress rules as mentioned by Grierson in his An introduction to the Maithili dialect of the Bihari language as spoken in North Bihar, and his general Bihari grammar series has established a remarkably accurate stress-dependent schwa shortening or deletion rules, as compared to other languages.. It is also notable that many modern grammarians such as Ramawatar Yadav has not discussed much either on schwa or stress, and does not consider schwa shortening, but rather schwa deletion, i.e., ə → ∅ / VC_CV in all cases. Maithili, with increased influence of other languages through coming into contact with them, has been showing the phenomenon of schwa deletion sometimes with words that traditionally pronounce schwas. For instance, is həməro () with schwas but is pronounced həmᵊro. That is akin to the neighbouring Bhojpuri in which (meaning ) is pronounced həmrā rather than həmərā from the deletion of a medial schwa.
Marathi
Marathi exhibits extensive schwa deletion. The schwa at the end of a word is almost always deleted, except in the case of a few tatsama words from Sanskrit as well as when the word ends in a conjunct. Schwas essentially get deleted when there is an opportunity for a consonant with a schwa to turn into a coda consonant for the previous syllable, though the actual rules are more complicated and have exceptions.
However, in places where the schwa occurs in the middle of words, Marathi does exhibit a propensity to pronounce it far more regularly than Hindi. Words like , , retain the schwa sound in the , , and respectively, often leading to their transliteration by native Marathi speakers in the Roman script as , and rather than , or .
Sometimes, to avoid schwa deletion, an anusvara is placed at the end of the word. For example, the word (, ) is often read without the schwa. When the schwa needs to be made explicit, it is written as (, ). This often happens in the case of pluralization, e.g. (, ) can be written as having the plural (, ). This arises from the original plural marker -एं (as in , ) having degraded to a schwa in modern speech, and the anusvara serves a purpose as a non-deleted vowel even though it is not realized as a nasal.
Unlike other Indo-Aryan languages like Hindi, comprehension of Marathi is not impeded if all schwas are retained. However it will be interpreted as a formal register called 'Ati Shuddha Marathi', which is only used for certain plays and poetry recitals.
Nepali
Nepali orthography is comparatively more phonetic than Hindi when it comes to schwa retention. Schwas are often retained within the words unless deletion is signaled by the use of a halanta (). (a name) is pronounced by Hindi speakers while by Nepali speakers. Some exceptions exist, such as (government), pronounced , not or (this is often due to the simultaneous borrowing from both the Hindi spelling as well as its pronunciation).
The following rules can be followed to figure out whether or not Nepali words retain the final schwa in a word.
Schwa is retained if the final syllable is a conjunct consonant. (, ), (, ), (, , a Newar last name).Exceptions: conjuncts such as in (, ) (, ) and occasionally the last name (/). Although postpositions are written joined to the preceding word in Nepali (just as in Hindi), schwa cancellation treats the words as if they were written separately. For example, () is not pronounced as *; it is pronounced were written : . Similarly, (Ram-ergative marker, ) is pronounced rather than *. For any verb form the final schwa is always retained unless the schwa-cancelling halanta is present. (, ), (, ), (, ), but (, ), (, ). Meanings may change with the wrong orthography: (, ) vs (, ). Adverbs, onomatopoeia and postpositions usually maintain the schwa and if they don't, halanta is acquired: ( ), (, ), (, ), ( ) vs. (, ). A few exceptional nouns retain the schwa such as: (, ), (, ).
Note that schwas are often retained in music and poetry to facilitate singing and recitation.