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Previous How Do You Spell Chanukah (Or Is It Hanukkah)? Next Where Does The Name
“Winter” Come From?
IS IT TRUE “W” CAN BE USED AS A VOWEL?
Published December 8, 2020
A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y … and W? Yes, the letter W 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 phoneticians, a vowel is a speech sound that is made without
significant constriction 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 O and E). Vowels can vary in pitch and loudness,
too.
If you do restrict or close your airflow in a significant way, you’re making a
consonant. Where that restriction or closure occurs in your vocal
tract determines what consonants you are making. B sounds are produced by
bringing the lips together, for instance (bilabials). K sounds are produced by
bringing the back of the tongue up to your soft palate (velars).
WHY IS W SOMETIMES A VOWEL?
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 semivowel or glide, “a speech sound having the
characteristics of both a consonant and vowel, especially W in wore and Y in
your and, in some analyses, R in road and L in load.”
Nope, this ain’t your spelling teacher’s alphabet, folks.
In English, W 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, brown
cow?
Back in Old English, W was represented by an altogether different symbol: Ƿ/ƿ,
called wynn. It was gradually replaced by the Norman (French) double U, which
was literally two U‘s back to back, uu, hence its shape … and name, 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—and, fun fact, in
a settlement in Argentina. And, it is perfectly happy using 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, W stands for the same sound that oo represents in boom or booth. Cwm and
crwth are very rare words in English—and 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: strč prst skrz
krk (“stick a finger down your throat”). In Slavic languages, a certain
articulation of R can behave as a syllable all on its own.
This can called be a syllabic consonant, which can fill the vowel slot in
a syllable. English can have them in the final syllables of words
like bottle and button, among other environments. To put it simply, L, R, M, N,
and the –ng in sing 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: brrr, hmm, shh, tsk,
pfft, or psst. These are considered onomatopoeia, and imitate sounds we make to
perform different actions, such as indicating we’re cold (brr) or demanding
quiet (shh).
Now, we think you’re ready to pronounce the name of this Welsh town:
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.
W isn’t the only letter inextricably linked to the letter U. Get the lowdown on
why Q usually requires a U, here.
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Previous How Do You Spell Chanukah (Or Is It Hanukkah)? Next Where Does The Name
“Winter” Come From?
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