Schwa deletion in Indo-Aryan languages

The Assamese equivalent for Schwa is the Open-mid back rounded vowel or [ɔ]. Assamese deleted this vowel at the end of consonant ending words, with a few exceptions like in numerals. In clusters, it's deleted in words like কান্ধ (/kandʱ-/, shoulder), বান্ধ (/bandʱ-/, bond) while optional in the word গোন্ধ (/ɡʊnˈdʱ(ɔ)/, smell). Modern Standard Assamese developed the schwa in words like কাছ (/kaˈsɒ/, turtle), পাৰ (/paˈɹɒ/, pigeon), তই কৰ (/tɔi kɔɹɔ/, you do) which appear with different vowels in some other dialects, like কাছু /ˈkasu/, পাৰা /ˈpaɾa/, কৰাহ /ˈkɔɾaʱ/ in some Kamrupi dialects. Eastern (and its sub-dialect, Standard) and Central Assamese retained the schwa in medial positions, like নিজৰা (/niˈzɔɹa/, stream), বিচনি (/biˈsɔni/, handfan), বতৰা (/bɔˈtɔɹa/, news), পাহৰে (/paˈɦɔɹe/, forgets), নকৰে (/nɔˈkɔɹe/, doesn't do), which were deleted in some of the Kamrupi dialect, while some others kept them as /a/. 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, শিক্ষিত from Sanskrit शिक्षित (śikṣita, "educated") is pronounced both as /ˌxikˈkʰitɔ/ and /ˌxikˈkʰit/.

The Bengali equivalent for Schwa is Open-mid back rounded vowel or [ɔ]. Bengali deletes this vowel at the end when not ending in a consonant cluster but sometimes retains this vowel at the medial position. The consonant clusters at the end of a word usually follows a Close-mid back rounded vowel or [o]. For example, the Sanskrit word पथ (/pɐt̪ʰɐ/, way) corresponds to the Bengali word পথ /pɔt̪ʰ/. But the Skt. word अन्त (/ɐnt̪ɐ/, end) retains the end vowel and becomes অন্ত /ɔnt̪o/ in Bengali, as it ends with a consonant cluster.

However, tatsama borrowings from Sanskrit generally retain the 'ɔˈ except in word-final positions and except in very informal speech.

That vowel in medial position are not always retained. For instance, 'কলকাতা' is pronounced as /kolkat̪a/, and not /kolɔkat̪a/ (although different pronunciations based on dialect exist, none pronounce it this way).

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.[2] According to Cardona, the word-final schwa deletion occurred during the transition from Middle Gujarati to Modern Gujarati.[11]

In the Dardic subbranch of Indoian, Kashmiri similarly demonstrates schwa deletion. For instance, drākṣa (द्राक्ष) is the Sanskrit word for grape, but the final schwa is dropped in the Kashmiri version, which is dach (दछ् or دَچھ).

Maithili's schwa deletion differs from other neighbouring languages. It actually doesn't delete schwa, but shortens it., ə → ə̆ / VC_CV applies to the language. 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, हमरो is həməro (even ours) with schwas but is pronounced həmᵊro.[12] That is akin to the neighbouring Bhojpuri in which हमरा (meaning mine) is pronounced həmrā rather than həmərā from the deletion of a medial schwa.[13]

Marathi exhibits extensive schwa deletion.[14]^: 95–111 The schwa at the end of a word is almost always deleted, except in the case of a few tatsama words from Sanskrit[15] as well as when the word ends in a conjunct.[14]^: 95–111 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.[14]^: 95–111

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 प्रेरणा, मानसी, केतकी retain the schwa sound in the र, न, and त respectively, often leading to their transliteration by native Marathi speakers in the Roman script as Prerana, Manasi and Ketaki rather than Prerna, Mansi or Ketki.

Sometimes, to avoid schwa deletion, an anusvara is placed at the end of the word. For example, the word खर (khar, "roughness") is often read without the schwa. When the schwa needs to be made explicit, it is written as खरं (khara, "true"). This often happens in the case of pluralization, e.g. फूल (phūl, "flower") can be written as having the plural फुलं (phula, "flowers"). This arises from the original plural marker -एं (as in फुलें phulẽ, "flowers") 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.[14]^: 114

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(्). सुलोचना (a name) is pronounced sulocnā by Hindi speakers while sulocanā by Nepali speakers. Some exceptions exist, such as सरकार (government), pronounced sarkār, not sarakār.

The following rules can be followed to figure out whether or not Nepali words retain the final schwa in a word.

1. Schwa is retained if the final syllable is a conjunct consonant. अन्त (anta, 'end'), सम्बन्ध (sambandha, 'relation'), श्रेष्ठ (śreṣṭha, 'greatest', a Newari last name).
   Exceptions: conjuncts such as ञ्च ञ्ज in मञ्च (mañc, 'stage') गञ्ज (gañj, 'city') and occasionally the last name पन्त (panta/pant).
2. Although postpositions are written joined to the preceding word in Nepali (unlike Hindi), schwa cancellation treats the words as if they were written separately. For example, उसको (his, of him) is not pronounced as *usako; it is pronounced as if it were written उस को: usko. Similarly, रामले (Ram-ergative marker, by Ram) is pronounced rāmle rather than *rāmale.
3. For any verb form the final schwa is always retained unless the schwa-cancelling halanta is present. हुन्छ (huncha, 'it happens'), भएर (bhaera, 'in happening so; therefore'), गएछ (gaecha, 'he apparently went'), but छन् (chan, 'they are'), गईन् (gain, 'she went'). Meanings may change with the wrong orthography: गईन (gaina, 'she didn't go') vs गईन् (gain, 'she went').
4. Adverbs, onomatopoeia and postpositions usually maintain the schwa and if they don't, halanta is acquired: अब (aba 'now'), तिर (tira, 'towards'), आज (āja, 'today') सिम्सिम (simsim 'drizzle') vs झन् (jhan, 'more').
5. A few exceptional nouns retain the schwa such as: दु:ख (dukha, 'suffering'), सुख (sukha, 'pleasure').

Note that schwas are often retained in music and poetry to facilitate singing and recitation.

Odia in its standardised form retains the schwa in its pronunciation as an open-mid back rounded vowel. Both medial and final schwas are retained: in the medial case ଝରଣା jharaṇā is pronounced /dʒʱɔɾɔɳā/ (waterfall) and in the final case ଟଗର ṭagara is pronounced /ʈɔgɔɾɔ/ (crepe jasmine flower).

Sanskrit loanwords or ‘tatsama’ words, being more formal, always have the schwa pronounced.

However, deletion is more common in a number of non-standard dialects, as well as increasingly in the speech of urban areas as a result of exposure to English and Hindi. For Example: The name of the city ‘Bhubaneshwar’ can be pronounced either informally as /bʰubɔneswɔɾ/, or more formally /bʰubɔneswɔɾɔ/.

Punjabi has broad schwa deletion rules: several base word forms (ਕਾਗ਼ਜ਼, کاغز, kāghəz/paper) drop schwas in the plural form (ਕਾਗ਼ਜ਼ਾਂ, کاغزاں, kāghzāṅ/papers) as well as with ablative (ਕਾਗ਼ਜ਼ੋਂ, کاغزوں, kāghzōṅ/from the paper) and locative (ਕਾਗ਼ਜ਼ੇ, کاغزے, kāghzé/on the paper) suffixes.[16]