used less often in unstressed syllables than stressed syllables. Additionally there are certain sounds—characterized by central position and weakness—that are particularly often found as the nuclei of unstressed syllables. These include: schwa, , as in and (in non-rhotic dialects) (– merger); also in many other positions such as about, photograph, paddock, etc. This sound is essentially restricted to unstressed syllables exclusively. In the approach presented here it is identified as a phoneme , although other analyses do not have a separate phoneme for schwa and regard it as a reduction or neutralization of other vowels in syllables with the lowest degree of stress. r-colored schwa, , as in in General American and some other rhotic dialects, which can be identified with the underlying sequence . syllabic consonants: as in bottle, as in button, as in rhythm. These may be phonemized either as a plain consonant or as a schwa followed by a consonant; for example button may be represented as or (see above under Consonants). , as in roses and making. This can be identified with the phoneme , although in unstressed syllables it may be pronounced more centrally, and for some speakers (particularly in Australian and New Zealand and some American English) it is merged with in these syllables (weak vowel merger). Among speakers who retain the distinction there are many cases where free variation between and is found, as in the second syllable of typical. (The OED has recently adopted the symbol to indicate such cases.) , as in argument, today, for which similar considerations apply as in the case of . (The symbol is sometimes used in these cases, similarly to .) Some speakers may also have a rounded schwa, , used in words like omission . , as in happy, coffee, in many dialects (others have in this position). The phonemic status of this is not easy to establish. Some authors consider it to correspond phonemically with a close front vowel that is neither the vowel of nor that of ; it occurs chiefly in contexts where the contrast between these vowels is neutralized, implying that it represents an archiphoneme, which may be written . Many speakers, however, do have a contrast in pairs of words like studied and studded or taxis and taxes; the contrast may be vs. , vs. or vs. , hence some authors consider that the happY-vowel should be identified phonemically either