A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y … and W?听Yes, the letter听奥听can behave as a vowel. It’s time to level up your Scrabble game, people. And, to all our grade-school peeps out there, get ready to knock the socks off your spelling teacher.
First, what is a vowel?
A, E, I, O, U, Y, and, as we’ll see, W, are called vowels, but let’s get technical. They are symbols (letters) that represent a special type of speech sound called a vowel.
According to听phoneticians, a vowel is a speech sound that is made without significant听constriction听of the flow of air from the lungs.
In making vowels, the tongue can be at various heights in the mouth (e.g., high, mid, or low) and at various positions (front, central, or back). The lips can be variously rounded (cf. a long听O听补苍诲听E). Vowels can vary in pitch and loudness, too.
If you do restrict or close your airflow in a significant way, you鈥檙e making a consonant. Where that restriction or closure occurs in your听vocal tract听determines what consonants you are making.听叠听sounds are produced by bringing the lips together, for instance (bilabials).听K听sounds are produced by bringing the back of the tongue up to your soft palate (velars).
Why is W听sometimes a vowel?听
W is a rebel: it defies categories. To put it simply, it’s a little bit of both, vowel and consonant.
Linguists call it a听semivowel or glide, “a speech sound having the characteristics of both a consonant and vowel, especially W听in wore and Y听in your and, in some analyses, R in road and L听in load.”
Nope, this ain’t your spelling teacher’s alphabet, folks.
In English, W听can behave this way at the beginning of a syllable, where it’s followed by a full-fledged vowel (e.g., wonderful). It can also behave this way as part of a diphthong (which is a vowel plus a glide), as in How now,听brown cow?
Back in Old English, W was represented by an altogether different symbol: 欠/瓶, called wynn. It was gradually replaced by the Norman (French) double U, which was literally two U‘s back to back,听uu, hence its shape … and name,听double-u!
Want to know more about the story between U and W? Read about it here.
What words use W as a vowel?
The Welsh language is a Celtic language still spoken in Wales鈥攁nd, fun fact, in a settlement in Argentina. And, it is perfectly happy using听W (and Y, along with the other usual suspects) as a vowel.
English has borrowed a precious few words from Welsh that feature W as a vowel. A cwm, pronounced [ koom ] or [ kuhm ], is “a steep-walled semicircular basin in a mountain, sometimes containing a lake; a cirque.” A crwth, pronounced [ krooth ] and also spelled crowd, refers to ancient Celtic musical instrument. In both words,听W stands for the same sound that oo听represents in boom or booth.听Cwm and crwth are very rare words in English鈥攁nd all the rarer for the way they showcase W as a vowel.
Are there words without any vowels?
Slavic languages, such as Czech, are famous for the long strings of consonants their languages allow, like this Czech tongue-twister:听str膷 prst skrz krk听(鈥渟tick a finger down your throat鈥�). In Slavic languages, a certain articulation of听R听can behave as a syllable all on its own.
This can called be a听syllabic听consonant, which can fill the vowel slot in a听syllable. English can have them in the final syllables of words like听bottle听补苍诲听button, among other environments. To put it simply,听L,听R,听M,听N, and the –ng听in听sing听can have vowel-like properties and be syllabic.
English does have some interjections it spells without vowels (and vocalizes without true vowels) that are considered words, such as:听brrr, hmm, shh, tsk, pfft, or psst. These are considered听onomatopoeia, and imitate sounds we make to perform different actions, such as indicating we鈥檙e cold (brr) or demanding quiet (shh).
Now, we think you’re ready to pronounce the name of this Welsh town: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.
