ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: IS "w" A VOWEL

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:01:42 GMT

"Y" can also be a vowel, as in "sky."

Re: IS "w" A VOWEL

Anonymous — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:14:23 GMT

I think we've established that cwm and crwth are words in the English language. They may have a Welsh etymology, but they're still English words.

Re: WHEN IS "w" A VOWEL

Anonymous — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 16:44:11 GMT

A, E, I, O, U, Y and sometimes W isn't even a rhyme. Does W rhyme with any of these letters? No.

Re: IS "w" A VOWEL

AlpheccaStars — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:07:44 GMT

The name "double U" is also a point to consider. It comes from Old English, where W was written as "UU" U is definitely a vowel, so we did get off on a bad start! I put the blame on our arcane spelling system. Many have tried to reform it, and the cries continue.

Proposal for EuroEnglish
The European Union commissioners have announced that agreement has been reached to adopt English as the preferred language for European communications, rather than German, which was the other possibility. As part of negotiations, Her Majesty's government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a five-year phased plan for what will be known as EuroEngish (Euro for short).

In the first year, "s" will be used instead of the soft "c". Sertainly, sivil servants will reseive this news with joy. Also, the hard "c" will be replased with "k". Not only will this klear up konfusion, but typewriters kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome "ph" will be replased by "f". This will make words like "fotograf" 20 per sent shorter.

In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters, which have always been a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of silent "e"s in the languag is disgrasful, and they would go.

By the forth year, people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" by "z" and "w" by "v". During ze fifz year ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters.

After zis fifz year, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trobls or difikultis and evrivum vil find it ezi tu understand ech ozer. Ze drem vil finali kum tru.

Re: IS "w" A VOWEL

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 12:06:06 GMT

I have an original copy of the 1838 "Mcguffey's Eclectic Progressive Spelling Book".

Under the section titled "sounds of the vowels" it lists A, E, I, O, U, and "W (when not silent, has the sound of U, as in few) and Y (when not silent, has the two sounds if I, as in my, happy)" It goes on futher to state "Y is considered a consonant only when it precedes a vowel in the same syllable, as in youth, young." It NEVER states that W is a consonant under special circumstances, leading the reader to deduce that W is ALWAYS a vowel.

So, there you have it. It has been taught since 1838 at a minimum and yes, how unfortunate that I was AGHAST to have read this while teaching my own children and being PERPLEXED....I was NEVER taught that W was considered a vowel..... but it is OBVIOUS that it is. Shame on you Mrs. Duncan...(my first grade teacher and the one who taught me to read)

Re: WHEN IS "w" A VOWEL

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:58:39 GMT

Ok people the letter "w" cannot be a vowel because it has its own specific meaning in the Welsh language and that is where it is from and you will not find it in a dictonary as being a word in the english language that we use in anything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: WHEN IS "w" A VOWEL

Anonymous — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 04:03:28 GMT

Hi,

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.

Re: IS "w" A VOWEL

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:35:16 GMT

The "Y" Remember sometimes Y.

Re: IS "w" A VOWEL

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 06:03:05 GMT

syzygy.....it means a kind of coordination or synergy.....Notice it has no 'a', 'e', 'i', 'o' or 'u'.....the y is the vowel. If you TRY hard, you might find another. Look to the SKY and try not to CRY. Sometimes 'Y' (or even 'W' in two cases) are used as vowels. It is not a GYPSY MYTH or a LYNX in a CRYPT or a TRYST between a NYMPH or a PYGMY. Just keep looking and you'll find that they are more common than you think.....

Re: IS "w" A VOWEL

Anonymous — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 07:16:50 GMT

You completely misread his comment...

~"it doesn't change the pronunciation at all. this is where w WOULD be considered a vowel."

He's saying that's when W is tacked on, and doesn't change the word, thats when it's a vowel.

All the word's you listed, it is NOT a vowel. because it does change the word... please read things twice before posting.

Re: IS "w" A VOWEL

AlpheccaStars — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 22:54:58 GMT

Anonymous
Can you give an example of a word that uses Y or W as a vowel?

I teach that Y is a vowel sometimes.

Hungry; Angry, etc.

W is not an independent vowel, however, it does change the vowel sound when used together with vowels a, e, and o.

a - awl; paw

e - chew, few, newt, new, hewn

o = owl; down;

etc.

Re: IS "w" A VOWEL

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 22:18:30 GMT

Lynn
Cyd
Try
Why

Re: IS "w" A VOWEL

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 03:55:11 GMT

Can you give an example of a word that uses Y or W as a vowel?

Re: IS "w" A VOWEL

Anonymous — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 21:24:13 GMT

Historically, English is a Germanic Language. The 'W' graph in Germanic languages is usually pronouced like a 'V', as in Volkswagen (phonetically 'foksvagen'). So originally it was like a consonant. Phonetically in English. 'W' represents a rounding of the lips before, between, or after a vowel. Try pronouncing words like 'wake' without the W. Then round your lips and say it again. You get 'oo-ake'. So there is really not much to a 'w' in English. Phonetically, you might say it is not a vowel or a consonant in English. It's a marker for lip rounding. Does the clear things up?

Re: IS "w" A VOWEL

AlpheccaStars — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:58:13 GMT

The conventional teaching is that the vowels are AEIOU and sometimes Y.

Y is a consonant in Yet and Yoghurt. It is a vowel in City and Candy.

W is a consonant in Woman and Wine.

W is part of a diphthong in words like

PAWN, FAWN, FOWL, FEW

My ESL books based on phonics study teach the short vowel sound for 'Y", but W is not taught as an independent vowel letter. It modifies the preceeding vowel sound in some words to make a new vowel sound. There are similar lessons on R as in

FARM, BURN, TERN /ur/

Here are the current definitions:

VOWEL

1.    Phonetics.
a.    (in English articulation) a speech sound produced without occluding, diverting, or obstructing the flow of air from the lungs (opposed to consonant).
b.    (in a syllable) the sound of greatest sonority, as i in grill. Compare consonant (def. 1b).
c.    (in linguistic function) a concept empirically determined as a phonological element in structural contrast with consonant, as the (é) of be (bé), we (wé), and yeast (yést).
2.    a letter representing or usually representing a vowel, as, in English, a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes w and y.

CONSONANT
1.    Phonetics.
a.    (in English articulation) a speech sound produced by occluding with or without releasing (p, b; t, d; k, g), diverting (m, n, ng), or obstructing (f, v; s, z, etc.) the flow of air from the lungs (opposed to vowel).
b.    (in a syllable) any sound other than the sound of greatest sonority in the syllable, as b, r, and g in brig (opposed to sonant). Compare vowel (def. 1b).
c.    (in linguistic function) a concept empirically determined as a phonological element in structural contrast with vowel, as the b of be, the w of we, the y, s, and t of yeast, etc.