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Message board > consonant or vowel?
consonant or vowel?

Apryll12
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consonant or vowel?
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Hi Everybody!
I have a very simple question and I hope you can help me with this. Is the letter -y- a consonant or a vowel? I am also confused regarding consonants and vowels.... do they refer to letters or sounds?
I�m interested in your views on this.
Regards, Krisztina
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19 Dec 2008
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Greek Professor
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Hi Kriszti69,
well.. read
Yes, the letter Y is a vowel or a consonant! In terms of sound, a vowel is �a speech sound which is produced by comparatively open configuration of the vocal tract, with vibration of the vocal cords but without audible friction...�, while a consonant is �a basic speech sound in which the breath is at least partly obstructed� (definitions from the New Oxford Dictionary of English, 1998). The letter Y can be used to represent different sounds in different words, and can therefore fit either definition. In myth or hymn it is clearly a vowel, and also in words such as my, where it stands for a diphthong (a combination of two vowel sounds). On the other hand, in a word like beyond there is an obstacle to the breath which can be heard between two vowels, and the same sound begins words like young and yes. (This consonant sound, like that of the letter W, is sometimes called a �semivowel� because it is made in a similar way to a vowel, but functions in contrast to vowels when used in words.) Whether the letter Y is a vowel or a consonant is therefore rather an arbitrary decision. The letter is probably more often used as a vowel, but in this role is often interchangeable with the letter I. However, the consonant sound is not consistently represented in English spelling by any other letter, and perhaps for this reason Y tends traditionally to be counted among the consonants. this.. maybe you will be enlightened.. Have a Merry Xmas
and read this..

Sometimes, the letter y is a consonant, and other times it is a vowel. The rule for telling the two apart is simple: The letter y is a consonant when it is the first letter of a syllable that has more than one letter. If y is anywhere else in the syllable, it is a vowel.
Examples of Y as a Consonant
- yes
- yam
- yell
- yellow
- yogurt
Examples of Y as a Vowel
- gym
- my
- cycle
- baby
- hairy
- sky
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19 Dec 2008
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alien boy
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Y is a very difficult entity! I like your examples & explanation there Greek Professor!
In the undergraduate study I�ve been pursuing the letter �y� is usually considered a consonant and the sound usually represented (think of �y� in �yes�) is commonly referred to as a glide (as is �w�). Essentially glide and semi-vowel mean the same thing, but the term glide doesn�t use the reference to vowels. According to Odden�s �Cambridge Introduction to Language and Linguistics� a glide or semi-vowel is between a consonant and a vowel in their phonetic properties and phonological function.
Now, going way back to when I was at school... I was taught that in the alphabet of 26 letters, there were only 5 vowels - a, e, i, o, u - and that the other 21 letters were consonants.
So to determine if �y� is a vowel or consonant really depends on your frame of reference. Do you mean in terms of phonology and phonetics or do you mean in terms of explanation to students (it would also depend on the language ability of your students)?
Cheers, B-)
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19 Dec 2008
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Greek Professor
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Hi alien boy,
Thank you very much.. A merry xmas to u... |
19 Dec 2008
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alien boy
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Hi G.P.!
No worries, mate! I always find your posts interesting and, dare I say it, enlightening!
Merry Christmas to you too!
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19 Dec 2008
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Apryll12
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Thanks greekprofessor!
well... I guess the situation must be similar with U, don�t you think? If you consider �university� and �umbrella�...
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19 Dec 2008
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Zora
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When I was a young child, we were taught the vowels were "a, e, i, o, u" and sometimes "y". So as everyone else pointed out - yes, it is sometimes used as a vowel.
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19 Dec 2008
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alien boy
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In those cases you may find there is a phonologic rule in place... when �u� is the initial letter and it is followed by k, s or n the sound is �you� and in all other cases it is like the word �up� (sorry, I don�t have IPA symbols available on this computer, yet!) . That�s just a (really) rough guide.
B-)
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19 Dec 2008
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Vickiii
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We always say the vowels are a,e,i,o,u and sometimes y.
The simple rule - if there is no other vowel in the word then y is the vowel.
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19 Dec 2008
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alien boy
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Well, my real name is �Bryce�, which makes that definition a little tricky... after all, there is an �e� at the end, but (in English) the �y� is pronounced as an �i�.
Mind you though, the spelling for my name is not English... another example of the English language taking words from any other language it wants!
B-)
p.s. I�m always wary when someone says they have a �simple question� these days!!!
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19 Dec 2008
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Apryll12
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To alien boy: I think the question was simple, although the answer to the question may be a bit complicated  Thanks, anyway, for your efforts to make it clear for me (and for the others).
In my language (Hungarian) whether something is a vowel or a consonant refers to sounds rather than letters; and one letter in most of the cases corresponds to one sound . So in our case it�s easy to decide while in English, letters can be pronounced in several different ways.... That�s why I was a bit confused.
Actually, I asked you all for your opinion because I created a ws a few weeks ago where I used words with no vowels in them and ss had to guess the words seeing only the consonants. Today, one of my ss pointed out a �mistake� because -y- was not in the word and she thought it was a consonant so I should have put it in.... The word was �biology� but I think in this case I didn�t make a mistake as -y- in biology can be regarded as a vowel.
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19 Dec 2008
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