yesmeena
27-02-2010, 11:48 PM
I am searching about this question
A question
this is something ive never quite got my head around when i was at school we got taught that the vowels were a,e,i,o,u,y but we never actually got the reasoning behind it and i
would really like to know why
some answers that i found
The answer
Sorry for those who weren't taught this (or forgot it), but the "sometimes y" version of the rule is correct.
Just check the definition of "vowel" in a dictionary and you'll have the basic answer. For example:
1. A speech sound. .. created by the relatively free passage of breath through the larynx and oral cavity, usually forming the most prominent and central sound of a syllable.
2. A letter, such as a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y in the English alphabet, that represents a vowel.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/vowel
____________________
Note those TWO uses of the word. "Vowel" refers, FIRST of all, to a type of SOUND --one in which there is minimal blockage of the airflow. With a "consonant", on the other hand, there is significant blockage (sometimes even stopping the airflow completely, as with "stops" -- b, p, t, d, k, g)
The usage of "vowel" for a LETTER is secondary, based on this first meaning. Things are simple for a,e,i,,o and u because they are ALWAYS used to indicate "vowel sounds".
But Y confuses people because in English it is sometimes used for vowel sounds, sometimes for consonant sounds.
In fact, when you start looking at it, you discover that it is much more often a vowel --- making the same sound indicated by "i" or "e" does elsewhere.
(If it helps -- our letter Y is originally borrowed from the Greek letter "upsilon" -- which is a VOWEL.)
__________________
So WHEN is y a vowel, when a consonant?
The basic rule is this:
Y at the BEGINNING of a syllable marks a consonant sound (and so may be called a consonant) examples: yak, yellow,
Y elsewhere in a syllable (middle or end) represents a vowel sound (and so is called a vowel). examples -- the many words with a -y ending/suffix: happy, funny...
__________________
This all may be easier to see if you put some words side-by-side with i-words in which it represents exactly the same sound:
cry - cries, sky - skies, fly - flies
rhyme - time
lay - lei
soy - soil
(Note that i is more often used in the middle of a syllable, y at the end. Consider all the words that change from y to i when adding an ending - fly > flies, happy > happier)
A question
this is something ive never quite got my head around when i was at school we got taught that the vowels were a,e,i,o,u,y but we never actually got the reasoning behind it and i
would really like to know why
some answers that i found
The answer
Sorry for those who weren't taught this (or forgot it), but the "sometimes y" version of the rule is correct.
Just check the definition of "vowel" in a dictionary and you'll have the basic answer. For example:
1. A speech sound. .. created by the relatively free passage of breath through the larynx and oral cavity, usually forming the most prominent and central sound of a syllable.
2. A letter, such as a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y in the English alphabet, that represents a vowel.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/vowel
____________________
Note those TWO uses of the word. "Vowel" refers, FIRST of all, to a type of SOUND --one in which there is minimal blockage of the airflow. With a "consonant", on the other hand, there is significant blockage (sometimes even stopping the airflow completely, as with "stops" -- b, p, t, d, k, g)
The usage of "vowel" for a LETTER is secondary, based on this first meaning. Things are simple for a,e,i,,o and u because they are ALWAYS used to indicate "vowel sounds".
But Y confuses people because in English it is sometimes used for vowel sounds, sometimes for consonant sounds.
In fact, when you start looking at it, you discover that it is much more often a vowel --- making the same sound indicated by "i" or "e" does elsewhere.
(If it helps -- our letter Y is originally borrowed from the Greek letter "upsilon" -- which is a VOWEL.)
__________________
So WHEN is y a vowel, when a consonant?
The basic rule is this:
Y at the BEGINNING of a syllable marks a consonant sound (and so may be called a consonant) examples: yak, yellow,
Y elsewhere in a syllable (middle or end) represents a vowel sound (and so is called a vowel). examples -- the many words with a -y ending/suffix: happy, funny...
__________________
This all may be easier to see if you put some words side-by-side with i-words in which it represents exactly the same sound:
cry - cries, sky - skies, fly - flies
rhyme - time
lay - lei
soy - soil
(Note that i is more often used in the middle of a syllable, y at the end. Consider all the words that change from y to i when adding an ending - fly > flies, happy > happier)