Crossword Genius

School with American vowel sound? (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

schwa

'vowel sound?' is the definition.
(schwa is a kind of vowel sound)

'school with american' is the wordplay.
'school' becomes 'sch'.
'with' becomes 'w' (abbreviation).
'american' becomes 'a' (common abbreviation - e.g. in organisation names).
'sch'+'w'+'a'='SCHWA'

(Other definitions for schwa that I've seen before include "Indistinct sound" , "Uh' sound" , "sound unstressed" , "Stress-free sound" , "Unstressed vowel (phonetics)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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