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Possible Duplicates:
When is “Y” a vowel?
Is the 'w' in 'cow' a vowel or a consonant?

Are W and Y vowels? I learned it depends on the conditions. But I don't know what conditions.

tchrist
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Quazi Irfan
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2 Answers2

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A "vowel" in an alphabet is a letter representing a sound with with a sustained voiced tone using an open throat, mouth and lips, usually differentiated by the position of the tongue and lips, as compared to a "consonant" which is any other phoneme, usually characterized by lip and teeth positions (labiodental, bilabial, alveolar, glottal), instant or sustained (plosive, fricative) and whether voiced or unvoiced. Vowels are always voiced, and have no attack of their own.

So, by this definition, yes, "y" and "w" can represent vowel sounds in words. Usually, when they do represent vowels, they are used in conjunction with one or more other vowels to create a polypthong: "w" represents "oo" and "y" represents "ee". For example, the word "way" is pronounced "oo-a-ee". "sweet" and "how" are other w examples, while "hay", "say" and "yes" are good examples of Y's normal behavior. This makes the letters Y and W best described as "vowel modifiers". They are rarely seen representing their voiced sound without another vowel adjacent, so they are not considered full vowels.

Further complicating things, w has both voiced and unvoiced qualities, a result of the evolution of the Latin alphabet to replace runic alphabets in Germanic languages. It also picked up other tricks; W in combination with H is usually unvoiced (though some dialects voice "wh" as if it were "w"), representing an unvoiced rounded lip alveolar fricative; basically forming "oo" and saying "h". Also, depending on the word origin, "w" may use its Romantic pronunciation of the semi-voiced labiovelar approximant (a "soft v").

"Y" has no such multiple personalities; it is always a vowel or vowel modifier trending a monopthong or dipthong vowel sound toward "ee". However, it is rarely seen on its own; the main exceptions are as the last sound of a word such as "Christianity", "slowly", or "happy". In most other cases, if "ee" is desired, it is used, or alternately the German-derived "ie". So again, since it rarely stands on its own, it's not considered a "full" vowel.

KeithS
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  • N.B. A vowel is a sound, not a letter! – Neil Coffey Jul 13 '11 at 19:31
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    We're talking about letters of the alphabet, which are classed as "vowels" and "consonants" according to the sounds they represent. So, a "vowel" letter represents a vowel sound. "A", the letter, is called a vowel, because of the sound(s) it represents in the spoken language. – KeithS Jul 13 '11 at 19:36
  • Except that the correspondence isn't always 1-1, and that's the source of the confusion. For that reason, I think we should avoid the confusion by defining letters as being intrinsically "vowel"/"consonant"s. Those labels are fine informally for the purpose of playing countdown, but in a scientific context are inappropriate and lead to confusion. – Neil Coffey Jul 13 '11 at 19:43
  • A good detailed answer, but there's too much linguistic jargon and technicality in it. I think I can speak for other laymen (when it comes to vocal physiology and linguistics) that this answer just lost me! – Noldorin Jul 13 '11 at 21:54
  • Also, I disagree with your pronunciation of "way". As a Brit, this is not how you say it, but perhaps you are an American/other English speaker. I can't think of any cases in which I pronoune "w" as a vowel in fact. (It's origin as "double" the Latin letter 'u' suggests otherwise perhaps. I believe it was an Anglo-Saxon later invention upon the inherited Latin alphabet though.) – Noldorin Jul 13 '11 at 21:56
  • Definitely an AE vs BE difference. You as a Brit may pronounce "way" the same as a Yank would produce "whey" (with the unvoiced "W"), and we in the Deep South and most other U.S. regions would voice practically every W we see, whether followed by "H" or not. – KeithS Jul 13 '11 at 22:21
  • As an example of a word you'd voice the W in, try words containing "ow". "How now, brown cow?" Do you "blow" through all of the W's or voice "ow" similar to "ah-oo" or "aw-oo"? – KeithS Jul 13 '11 at 22:28
  • I think this is a great question. Why is "w" considered a consonant at all? Is there any English word where the corresponding sound is a consonant? Also I fail to understand @Noldorin's comment above; you do agree that the English "w" sound is a vowel sound, perhaps halfway between "u" in "put" and "oo" in "boot", correct? It may not be exactly the same sound but it's quite similar and definitely vocalic as far as I can tell. The only difference that appears to be is that "w" never appears in isolation; instead it needs to be followed by another vowel. – david Jul 13 '11 at 22:27
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A vowel is basically a letter you pronounce with an open vocal tract. Y is a semivowel because sometimes you pronounce it with the tract open (as in sky) and sometimes not (as in yesterday). Pay attention to the position of your tongue when pronouncing vowels and consonants and you will notice the difference.

Nacimota
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  • So, can I safely assume if my tongue position is like sky then its vowel, otherwise its consonant? And what about W? – Quazi Irfan Jul 13 '11 at 18:52
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    @iamcreasy - w is only used as a vowel very rarely in English, and always (or almost always) in loanwords from other languages. The only one I can think of at the moment is cwm, which is from Welsh. – phenry Jul 13 '11 at 19:03
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    NO NO NO NO NO! I think this is really important: a vowel is a category of sound, nothing to do with writing. Thinking of the letter as intrinsically being what the "vowel" is is the whole source of the confusion!!!! – Neil Coffey Jul 13 '11 at 19:31
  • @phenry - actually, W is voiced more often than not, as "oo". However, it almost never stands on its own as that sound; it always "pairs up" with another vowel to form a dipthong beginning or ending in "oo". The only major use of the unvoiced w is in combination with "h" to form the "rounded alveolar fricative". – KeithS Jul 13 '11 at 19:38