Question - Vowels and consonants

[Rybka]

What’s the difference between a consonant and a vowel.
Can a letter be both? How many vowels are there in English?


Here is an interesting article to start you thinking.

Physiological Differences

Regards,                                 Rybka

 

[Guest]

What’s the difference between a consonant and a vowel.
Can a letter be both? How many vowels are there in English?


Here is an interesting article to start you thinking.

Physiological Differences

Regards,                                 Rybka

Dearest Rybka,
Vowels are usually the sounds you hear when people see your deformed fishy avatars. For example: eeee w and u h and i ck. There are many others, but you get the idea. The few consonants that people tack onto the end of those expressions of disgust are only there for politeness

Sincerely,
Xtaa bay

 

[Guest]

What’s the difference between a consonant and a vowel.
Can a letter be both? How many vowels are there in English?

LOL, and you have the nerve to criticize my writing!

 

[Guest]

Re: Re: Question - Vowels and consonants

LOL, and you have the nerve to criticize my writing!

Hey, it's actually a good question. Why do we separate some sounds from other sounds, and categorize them differently? That's interesting, as well as complex. How do we recognize those differences that we've constructed, and what happens when we have something that falls under either category (like y or, for some people, w). It's called linguistic anthropology. But you wouldn't know that, because it's not dark and "evil-like". By the way, nice sunglasses. They help to hide your ugly face.

 

[Guest]

Re: Re: Re: Question - Vowels and consonants

It's called linguistic anthropology. But you wouldn't know that, because it's not dark and "evil-like". By the way, nice sunglasses. They help to hide your ugly face.

I know what its called. Enough of your superior than thou attitude ok?
BTW, that last remark was lame. "evil-like"? I never claimed to be evil. You're firing blanks.
As for the original topic, the English language has many of these loopholes, for ex.- the sound in cow and in bow. Or, when we put emphasis on words that are spelled differently but have similair meanings .

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Or, when we put emphasis on words that are spelled differently but have similar meanings.

Those are called synonyms, isn't it? I'd never thought of them as loopholes of the English language...

 

[Rybka]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Question - Vowels and consonants

...
As for the original topic, the English language has many of these loopholes, for ex.- the sound in cow and in bow. Or, when we put emphasis on words that are spelled differently but have similair meanings .

I don't think the difference between vowels, partial vowels, partial consonants, and consonants should be called "loopholes", nor should homographic or hetrographic homonyms and homographic heterophones. Mine was a serious question, and I thought the link provided was of interest to students of language. I don’t claim to know everything and particularly about the structure of language. I cannot even read the phonetic charts when it comes to things like “fricatives”, glottal stops, “labials”, etc. However, I do know the difference between diphthongs, “G-strings”, and dipshits.

(by the way, it is “similar” not similair.)

Regards,                                 Rybka

 

[Guest]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Question - Vowels and consonants

However, I do know the difference between diphthongs, “G-strings”, and dipshits.

(by the way, it is “similar” not similair.)

oh, you are so close to being clever but not quite there.
Oh noooooooooooo, a typo. Should I burn in hell for that?

 

[Hyndeline]

oh, you are so close to being clever but not quite there.
Oh noooooooooooo, a typo. Should I burn in hell for that?

Go away. "It's easy."

 

[karmadog]

I thought the link was great. But two subjects aren't anywhere near enough to draw a conclusion.

Thanks, Rybka, for pointing it out.

As far as dickheads and diphtongs, well, I'll leave all that alone.

 

[Guest]

Go away. "It's easy."

stop replying to me, its easy.
We can keep going if you like but FYI, I will win.

 

[Hyndeline]

Originally posted by Hyndeline
Go away. "It's easy."

eh, I might because I dont want to associate with lowly creatures who claim to be authors. You are not fellow writers, you are trolls.

Oh now you might go away? Dang and we had a promise before. Oh to turn back time...

 

[Guest]

getting back to the TOPIC, vowels are tricky. How many vowels are there? Five, Y is a consonant and not a vowel (at least that is what my teachers taught me).
I always thought it was odd how Motley Crue spelled their name, lol.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

The question is why? What makes you say there are five vowels and not six? Just because your teachers told you so? Did they give you a reason?

 

[Guest]

I would guess because in the English language, most words do not end with vowels, they end with consonants. In Japanese, their words end in vowels.
My friend who speaks 3 languages can explain it better.

 

[Rybka]

getting back to the TOPIC, vowels are tricky. How many vowels are there? Five, Y is a consonant and not a vowel (at least that is what my teachers taught me).
I always thought it was odd how Motley Crue spelled their name, lol.

That is what I was taught. Yet recently I read that "W", like "Y" was a "sometimes vowel". I couldn't think of a single English word that I thought used "W" as a vowel. After "Googling" for awhile I came upon several sites that stated that not only could "W" be a vowel, but so could "M", "R", and "S". That is why I asked the original question.


Regards,                                 Rybka

 

[Lauren Hynde]

I would guess because in the English language, most words do not end with vowels, they end with consonants. In Japanese, their words end in vowels.
My friend who speaks 3 languages can explain it better.

In Japanese there aren't any vowels or consonants. Only syllables....

 

[Guest]

That is what I was taught. Yet recently I read that "W", like "Y" was a "sometimes vowel". I couldn't think of a single English word that I thought used "W" as a vowel. After "Googling" for awhile I came upon several sites that stated than not only could "W" be a vowel, but so could "M", "R", and "S".

ok, I never heard that before.
I think perhaps there are many who want to twist reality to fit their theories. Hmmmm....

 

[Lauren Hynde]

What theories? What are the criteria used to classify one sound/letter as a vowel or consonant or something in between?

 

[Guest]

In Japanese there aren't any vowels or consonants. Only syllables....

did you study in Japan? Can you speak the language?

 

[DarlingNikki]

I studied Japanese. What Lauren says is true.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

did you study in Japan? Can you speak the language?

Yes. I speak six other languages, by the way, but fail to see what that has to do with anything...

 

[Guest]

What’s the difference between a consonant and a vowel.
Can a letter be both? How many vowels are there in English?

notice he said ENGLISH. This is not about the rules of the Japanese language.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Notice how you were the one mentioning Japanese, God knows why...

 

[Lauren Hynde]

I can't claim to be an authority when it comes to the English language, but I can tell you some of what I learned in Portuguese and what I can deduce from there.

The reason why one can question the classification of letters into vowels and consonants is because the 26 letters on the English alphabet don't correspond to the phonemes used by the English language. This is also true for Portuguese (23 letters and a gazillion different phonemes), but not for Japanese, Finnish, Arabic, Italian and Spanish, for example.

These phonemes, nothing more than sounds, can be separated into vowels and consonants.

A sound will be a vowel if the air reaches the outside freely without finding considerable obstacles on its way. It can be an oral vowel, or a nasal vowel, depending on whether or not the air passage to the nose cavity is blocked. Does this mean nasal vowels could be considered, in extreme cases, consonantes? Is there a precise definition of 'considerable obstacle', or does it depend on each individual person and case?

A sound will be a consonant if the air, before reaching the outside, finds its passage total- or almost totally obstructed. [there are many variables to classify the consonants, and I don't know if there's a point into trying to translate all these names into English]

But the point is, if you think about it, you'll often find words written in English whose characters don't exactly correspond to the phonetic interpretation you're accustomed to make of them. This is obviously a flaw of the written language that has swerved from the principles that guided it, once. Maybe the way one word is pronounced changed with time and the written language failed to keep up with it; maybe this word's graphic representation was adopted from a language where it did make phonetic sense, but it's pronounciation was anglicized...