Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2007

} Steve MacGregor wrote:
}
}> Don Phillipson wrote:
}
}> > Y is not a vowel under some or any conditions.  Y is a semivowel.
}
}> So for example, is the Y in the name "Smyth" a semivowel, that is, a
}> type of consonany?  If so, what is the vowel in that name?  Or in the
}> word "my"?  Isn't the Y in "Cynthia" a vowel?
}
} Abyss, by, cynic ... nymph ... pyramid ... xylophone ... zygote, and a
} myriad other words containing the vowel <y>.

The eyes have it.

} ~~~ Rey ~~~
} with a semivowel

Which reminds me, when we couldn't be bothered to plug in the fox test,
we'd type "RYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRY" real fast.

This isn't really an issue of what is or is not a vowel.  A vowel is a
sound.  Letters in alphabets like the one used to write English
*represent* sounds.  For simplicity, we often refer to the letters
that represent vowels as if they *are* the vowels, but they aren't,
any more than the numeral 5 is the number it represents.  So the real
question is whether a given letter, in a given word, represents a
vowel, and even that isn't as clear a question as it may appear,
because sometimes letters have no sound (like the "h" in "honor") and
sometimes letters that have no sound themselves alter the sounds of
other letters (as, for example "e" does to "a" in "cape," which is
pronounced differently from "cap"), and some sounds are considered
"semi-vowels" by some people, and there are still other complexities
that are beyond my ability to explain.

So, okay, what letters "are" or "can be" vowels?  We know a, e, i, o,
u, and y.  Is the "w" of "how" a consonsnat, a vowel, a semi-vowel,
silent without effect, or silent with effect?  You can tug at that one
all day without resolving it.  Then try the same thing with the "h" at
the end of "blah."  In some Welsh words, like "crwth," "w" represents
the only vowel sound -- *is* the only vowel, if you will.  Meanwhile,
other languages that use a slightly different version of the same
Roman alphabet that English uses can represent vowel (or semi-vowel)
sounds with the likes of "l" and "r".  Ever been to Brno in the Czech
Republic?  Temple University's basketball team once had a player named
Bill Mlkvy.[1]

In short, your question has no easy answer.

[1]  The university's team name was "the Owls," and he was known as
"the Owl without a vowel."

W is a vowel in a few words borrowed from Welsh (a language in which W is a
vowel). For example, "cwm".

H is not a vowel. It is a consonant.

I'm starting to understand that.  The good news is that I've learned a lot
about vowels that I didn't know previously (a word with 5 vowels! - Hope
I've got that correct.)

Peter Duncanson <mail@peterduncanson.net> wrote:

<*snip*>

Thank you very much for the details response.  :)

The Karl Reinhardt entity posted thusly:

The 'k' in knight is there so we can distinguish it from darkness.

Once a king, always a king, but once a night is not enough (or plenty,
depending on your stamina).