I just found out Friday, 11-21-08, that the people in the state of Washington were not taught that ‘w’ is sometimes a vowel. This was quite a shock to me so then I did research on the subject and wrote the following paper. I am over fifty and had no idea that this was such a controversy until two days ago.  

‘Vowels Y & W Made Easy’ by Cindy N

A vowel is the sound in a spoken language were the vocal tract is open and there is no build up of air pressure between the vocal cords at the upper part of the larynx, i.e.;  ah, oh, ee, ay, ow …. There are five true (they are only) vowels a,e,i,o,u, and sometimes y & w. Y and W can be a vowel or a consonant depending upon where it is in the word. In English orthography some letters may represent a consonant in some circumstances, and a vowel in others.

Diphthongs-- two vowel sounds that slide together when you say them. Example: ey – ā, oy-oi, uy-ī , au-aw, ew- ū ,ou-ow, ow-ō, W is always a vowel sound following another vowel and not starting a new syllable like - bewail.

Rule of thumb for y:

As a consonant: The beginning of a word or beginning of a syllable – yard, beyond...

As a vowel: Y as long ‘i’ sound at the end of single syllable words – by, cry, fly, my…..

Y as a long ‘e’ sound at the end of a double syllable words – baby, carry, funny, windy….

Y as a short ‘i’ sound the middle of a word as it vowel – gym, myth & hymn.

Y taking the place of the ‘i’, ay at the end of a word making the long a sound - play, tray….

Y taking the place of the ‘i’, ey at the end of a word changing the sound to long a - hey, they..

Y taking the place of the ‘i’, oy at the end of a word – boy, joy, toy….

Y taking the place of the ‘i’, uy at the end of a word once again sounds like a long i– buy, guy

Rule of thumb for w: in 'wow' (wou) w is both a consonant and a vowel

As a consonant: The beginning of a word or beginning of a syllable – wagon, always….

As a vowel: In the English language there is not a word with a single w as a vowel. It always has a partner before it.

As with the y it replaces the u at the end of words and before an l or n –….

W taking the place of the ‘u’, aw at the end of a word making the au sound - claw, paw….

W taking the place of the ‘u’, ew at the end of a word changing the sound to long u - new, crew, flew,…..

W taking the place of the ‘u’, ow at the end of a word sound like ou in ouch- how, now, brown, cow, owl…

W taking the place of the ‘u’, ow at the end of a word sounds like long o – blow, crow, bowl

Vowel itself is an interesting word in which the w is a vowel (vou-el) the ou sounds like in ouch.

I hope that this will help someone.