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Why is it a unicorn instead of an unicorn. Unicorn starts with a vowel and so shouldn't it be an?

tchrist
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Aequitas
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    This has been answered so many times that it's embarrassing that people above a certain rep should re-answer. They should at least redirect to ELL, though the people there may not be too happy either. The clearest answer (though not the most obvious synonym for the question) is perhaps at "a" or "an" for words that don't start with vowels but sound like they're starting with a vowel – Edwin Ashworth Jun 13 '15 at 08:31
  • More duplicates: a/an user, a/an uniform. Unicorn is not a unique case. – J.R. Jun 13 '15 at 11:47
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    Please do not use ugly blue monospace backticks on ELU to indicate italics. – tchrist Jun 13 '15 at 13:57
  • @EdwinAshworth Hmm, I don't like that question - or that answer too much. Reason is that "words that sound like they start with a vowel" erm, start with a vowel. If the question had been "words that don't start with a vowel letter, but start with a vowel sound, that would have been ok. But what that students wanted to know was why the word student didn't have an. He assumed it should do because he obviously uses an epenthetic vowel before that /s/, as for example, Spanish and Portuguese speakers would ... – Araucaria - Him Jun 13 '15 at 16:12
  • @EdwinAshworth It would have been ok if the top answer had explained that we used a before words that start with an orthographic vowel if they start with a phonological consonant (which, as many students will exist, is also phonetically a vowel). – Araucaria - Him Jun 13 '15 at 16:19
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    It's tough to give a good answer, because it's not obvious that [j] should count as a consonant. In the SPE system, it counts as non-consonantal, phonetically, and I don't think the [j] is even there, phonemically. Evidently, what matters is that [j] is non-syllabic, but why is that what matters? (I would have answered this question, if I'd been able to.) – Greg Lee Jun 13 '15 at 16:32
  • @GregLee Yes, I agree. This would be a very good question for a site like this, if the real issues were brought out. ( Personally, I think that /j/ is phonologically a consonant though. Which means that I think it is there, and is phonologically "a consonant" because it never appears in the nucleus. Personally, it seems to me that it would be difficult for it to be part of a following vowel given the coalescence with /d/ or /t/, when the following vowel seem to remain there). – Araucaria - Him Jun 13 '15 at 16:40
  • @Araucaria, since a syllable nucleus is syllabic, to say that [j] "never appears in the nucleus" is pretty much the same as saying it's non-syllabic. But why should English prohibit "an" from occurring before a non-syllabic sound? What sense does that make? – Greg Lee Jun 13 '15 at 16:53
  • @GregLee Yes, I agree that it's non-syllabic. Isn't it more of a case that English prohibits two vocalic nucleuses being next to each other in this environment? Because this isn't happening here (there's arguably a /j/ in the onset separating the two nucleuses), there is no marked form of a used. So it isn't so much that an is prohibited, it's more that it isn't licensed. – Araucaria - Him Jun 13 '15 at 16:59
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    @Araucaria, yes, that makes sense to me. The function of the "n" in "an" is to separate two syllabic sounds, and with [j] present to separate the syllabics, there is no need for the "n". – Greg Lee Jun 13 '15 at 17:22
  • @Araucaria from CDO: << vowel noun [... B1 a letter that represents a sound produced in this way: The vowels in English are a, e, i, o, and u. >> [I'd add y and w sometimes]. So 'honour' doesn't start with a vowel. According to this definition, which is in general use. // The sometime exceptions to the refined rule (eg 'an historic ...; an hotel) have also been covered. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 13 '15 at 22:12
  • @EdwinAshworth Yes, right. But the site's not geared specially for people who only understand what vowel means in its orthographic sense. In that question, the OP is obviously asking why student, which they pronounce with an epenthetic phonetic vowel at the beginning, isn't preceded by an. On a site for linguists, etymologists and serious people, "vowel" is obviously not good enough here. 'Cuz there's at least thee types of vowels/consonants involved here, and they need to be explained ... Otherwise the question hasn't been answered in a meaningful way – Araucaria - Him Jun 14 '15 at 01:14
  • @Araucaria' "words that sound like they start with a vowel"... start with a vowel' is assuming one particular sense of the word. And that is incorrect; linguists, ... serious people define their terms. And I find your 'the OP is obviously asking why student, which they pronounce with an epenthetic phonetic vowel at the beginning, isn't preceded by an', ludicrous given the level that many questions here are pitched at. You will notice that Roaring Fish, J.R., tchrist, and Andrew Leach seem to agree. If you want to discuss epenthetic phonetic vowels, write a question which mentions them. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 14 '15 at 13:30
  • @EdwinAshworth I'm not saying that anyone needs to use the label 'epenthetic vowel' but the OP obviously thought that student began with a vowel sound. I agree this question is a dupe, but I don't think that question is the best to link to, for a number of reasons. First and foremost that question asks about when we use an with words that begin with an orthographic consonant, not when we use a with words that begin with an orthographic vowel! That question is also problematic because the terms aren't defined and are used in a confusing way by the OP. – Araucaria - Him Jun 14 '15 at 14:57
  • @Araucaria. We're talking at cross purposes. I'm saying that the answer there best answers this question; I thought I'd made that clear in my first comment. // The OP on the thread I linked to asks questions like <>, <<e.g. vs i.e.>>, <<Are both “in regards to” and “regarding to” correct?>>, <<“Differ to”, “differ with” or “differ from”>>. I would suggest that a check on the usually accepted pronunciation in a dictionary was more fitting than an analysis of dictionary imprecision here. // 'the terms aren't [well-]defined': but your comment assumes a precise definition. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 14 '15 at 16:28
  • @EdwinAshworth Sorry Edwin, I think we might be talking about a different post, that OP just asks "Is it correct to say or write an student or an store?" – Araucaria - Him Jun 14 '15 at 17:56
  • @Araucaria Yes, but I'm gauging the level they are at linguistically by their other questions on ELU, and the length of time they've been studying English. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 14 '15 at 21:33

3 Answers3

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The article(a/an) that precedes a word is largely dependent on the way the first syllable of that word is pronounced, though many people follow the rule that words beginning with vowels must be preceded by 'an' and words beginning with consonants must be preceded by 'a'.

Here, unicorn begins with the vowel 'u' but it's pronounced more or less like 'yoo'. 'Unicorn' begins with a consonant sound, so we use 'a' before it.

Some other examples are: a user, an honour, a university, a European.

Aishwarya A R
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A unicorn:

When "u" makes the same sound as the "y" in "you," or "o" makes the same sound as "w" in "won," then a is used. The word-initial "y" sound ("unicorn") is actually a glide [j] phonetically, which has consonantal properties; consequently, it is treated as a consonant, requiring "a."

a union, a united front, a unicorn, a used napkin, a U.S. ship, a one-legged man.

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[|ju:nɪkɔ:rn]

when you pronounce 'unicorn' it starts with the symbol j not any other vowels. That's why:).

Dorothy
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