2) schwa. The American HeritageŽ Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
...1. A mid-central neutral vowel, typically occurring in unstressed syllables, as the final vowel of English sofa. 2. The symbol () used to represent an unstressed...

3) altar, alter. The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993
...Confusing these homophones occurs only when the unstressed vowel each word has in its second syllable is misspelled; the meanings and functions are distinctly different:...

4) SPELLING OF UNSTRESSED VOWELS. The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993
...Spoken English is full of unstressed vowels, and we spell them with almost every vowel letter and combination in the alphabet. Consider the spellings of words such...

5) APHESIS, APHETIC. The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993
...These two refer to one kind of apheresis, in which an unstressed vowel is dropped from the beginning of a word: bout for about, squire for esquire. Pronounce the...

6) elision. The American HeritageŽ Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
...1a. Omission of a final or initial sound in pronunciation. b. Omission of an unstressed vowel or syllable, as in scanning a verse. 2. The act or an instance of omitting...

7) aphesis. The American HeritageŽ Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
...Inflected forms: pl. aphˇeˇses (-sz) The loss of an initial, usually unstressed vowel, as in cute from acute. Greek, a release, from aphenai, aphe-, to let go : apo-,...

8) the. The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993
...positions before a consonant, as in Give me the book, is pronounced thuh. In an unstressed position before a vowel, as in Give me the apple, it is pronounced thi...

9) VOWELS, THE AMERICAN ENGLISH. The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993
...found The U in foot The UH in flood The UHR in fur The unstressed uh in sofa 1 H, w, and y are sometimes called semivowels, and they, like r, modify or change the...

10) breve. The American HeritageŽ Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
...1. A symbol ( ) placed over a vowel to show that it has a short sound, as the a in bat. 2. A curved mark used to indicate a short or unstressed syllable of verse....