Vowels

Question

Is "w" a vowel?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Vowels are sounds, not letters. There are 14 or 15 vowels in English, depending on the variety of English you speak. Various combinations of seven different letters are used to represent these vowels (i.e., these sounds). A, E, I, O, U, W, and Y. These are letters, not vowels. Put your ear very close to those symbols -- come close to your computer screen -- and listen hard, and you will note that they give off no sound. Therefore, they are not vowels. They are written symbols.

Note that the letter W is used to help represent vowel sounds.

he and hew are two different words with different pronunciations. The e in he represents one of the vowels of English. The ew in hew represents a different vowel of English.

Similarly, no and now are different words with different pronunciations. The o and the ow represent different vowels.

In short W is not a vowel, but A is not a vowel either, nor are E, I, O, U, or Y. All are symbols that are used in various combinations to represent vowels.

CJ

Khoff · Answer

Type "w vowel" into the search box in the upper right corner and you will find some of the previous threads on this subject. (Sorry, I tried to post a link to one of them, but couldn't get it to work.)

Khoff · Answer

A, E, I,  O an U are not vowels?  Jim, next you'll be telling us that the man in the red suit at the mall is not Santa Claus!!  (I know, he's just a symbol that represents Santa Claus!)

CalifJim · Answer

khoffA, E, I, O an U are not vowels?

I keep putting my ear very very close to the page, and I've done this for many, many books that I own -- and I have never heard a single sound coming off those letters -- not a whisper. So no. No vowels there.

I preach this whenever I can because it was preached to me in a class I took on phonetics some years ago. I made the 'mistake' of referring to a written symbol as a vowel, and the teacher stomped all over me for it! "If you can't hear it, it's not a vowel!"

I don't know anything about Santa Claus, so I can't comment on that.

CJ

Dokterjokkebrok · Answer

khoffA, E, I, O an U are not vowels? Jim, next you'll be telling us that the man in the red suit at the mall is not Santa Claus!! (I know, he's just a symbol that represents Santa Claus!)

Hi
By the way, did you guys know that we, Dutch people, imported Santa Claus to the states?

'Santa' comes from the Dutch word 'sint', which means 'saint'. And 'Claus' comes from Dutch 'Klaas', which is short for 'Nikolaas', which in turn, means 'Nicholas'. Now, this Saint Nicholas came from a place in 6th-century Greece called Myra, which is located in present-day Turkey.

In short, Santa comes from Turkey!!

Why he moved to the North Pole is beyond me though.Turkey's an excellent choice when it comes to a holiday in the sun.

Just so you know.

Turning back to the question of the original poster, I fully agree with CalifJim that the letter 'w' is not a vowel, though it may occasionally represent a sound that is in fact a vowel. We were all taught at school that A, E, I, O, and U are THE vowels of the English language, and that was it. However, the word 'vowel' stems from a word of classical origin, 'vocalis', which means 'a sound uttered by the vocal cords'. So, strictly speaking, the word 'vowel' refers directly to the actual sound being produced rather than a symbol or letter of the alphabet. It's a fine distinction, but quite an important one.

Kind regards and Merry X-mas to all of you,

Dokterjokkebrok

Vowels

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