This video was submitted as my midterm assignment for Pronunciation and Intonation 1, a mandatory subject of study for students in my programme. My instructor tasked the students with creating a video about vowels in the English language. In the video, I expressed my opinions on the Schwa sound (⟨ə⟩) and argued that the transcription of the open-mid back unrounded vowel (or the ⟨ʌ⟩ sound) might be an unnecessary distinction in American English.
Process
Before being given the assignment, I already had my own observations regarding how in American English, the ⟨ʌ⟩ sound seemed to be produced in a suspiciously similar fashion to how the ⟨ə⟩ sound is produced. I then came across a video by Dr. Geoff Lindsay and it convinced me that there was something worth exploring about it. In the video, I laid out the result of my further research and gave examples to corroborate my arguments.
My Remark(s)
As this was my first time making any kind of argument regarding a particular aspect of a language, this proved to be difficult for me. On top of that, I had never really made anything for public consumption so I had the added challenge of making a content that is easily understood and also engaging. Despite the challenges, I enjoyed the whole process and discovered that I also find video editing a very rewarding activity.
