Do you know all your vowels?

[Gnome Rage]

Alright. This blew my mind and I'm curious - do you know them all?

Sidenote: Do you know the proper definition of what a vowel is?

Maybe I'm just a nit-wit and thats why I didn't know, but I'd bet most (average) people don't know.

[Drew]

In english words: A, E, I, O, U, Y, W.

[Gnome Rage]

You ruined my poll! NOW MY RESULTS WILL BE SKEWEDDDD

When did you learn that W was a vowel?

[Tgo01]

30 seconds after he goggled it.

[Asha]

N.I.C.E.P.R.O.F.I.L.E.P.I.C.

[Gnome Rage]

:(

My friend had a teacher in one of her education classes ask them to say all the vowels, and then she goes "and W" and didn't explain it - so we spent a lot of time looking up the W and what exactly a vowel is.

I WANT TO KNOW WHY I DIDNT LEARN THIS WHEN I WAS A KID

[pabstblueribbon]

Bullshit. You don't have to buy a W in the Wheel of Fortune.

[Gnome Rage]

Its the truth man!

[Drew]

When did you learn that W was a vowel?


For a long time now. No one ever beats me at trivial pursuit.

[AnticorRifling]

For a long time now. No one ever beats me at trivial pursuit.

That's because all your pursuits are trivial.

[Drew]

That's because all your pursuits are trivial.

I'm on this message board, amirite?

[Mathari]

Your character's name is Aoifekyna. You didn't know all your vowels???

[Gnome Rage]

There is no W in aofiekyna!

[Mathari]

There is no W in aofiekyna!
Only because you didn't know 'w' could be a vowel, right?! ;)

Just sayin'. There are lots of vowels in that name.

[Gnome Rage]

twice as many vowels than consonants!

[Gweneivia]

once again, the taco option wins.

[Inspire]

WTF, W is a vowel?

[WRoss]

In French, H can also be a vowel.

[Sam]

I've always known W was a vowel because of, "A,E,I,O,U and sometimes Y and W."

I still don't know what a vowel is though.

[Kuyuk]

I've been trying to GIS a funny boob picture with the boobs made out of a W, but GIS is failing me.

And I have to look at all these boobs. Oh poor me.

[Inspire]

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/when-is-w-a-vowel.aspx

[Latrinsorm]

N.I.C.E.P.R.O.F.I.L.E.P.I.C.+1

Also, I don't buy W as a vowel unless you also count L as a vowel. Nobody counts L as a vowel; nobody should count W as a vowel either.

[Drew]

+1

Also, I don't buy W as a vowel unless you also count L as a vowel. Nobody counts L as a vowel; nobody should count W as a vowel either.

What word does L count as a vowel in?

[Latrinsorm]

I forgot the airflow part, L isn't a good example because of the tongue. H is better.

[Cephalopod]

Unrelated (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lich59xsjik), but this conversation made me think of it.

[Gnome Rage]

Nice tangent. It blew my mind to find out W is sometimes a vowel, I knew about Y but W!?

And then I considered this - I didn't even know what a vowel IS. I found out about W a few months ago, but we were talking about it last night and I asked what a vowel is, and the whole room looked puzzled.

You never learn that!

[phantasm]

Stop staring at me while I'm trying to read this posts.

[Gnome Rage]

I'm eye fucking you. Its different

[Bobmuhthol]

W isn't a vowel.

[Gnome Rage]

Yes it is, sometimes! "in cow, for instance, W is a vowel, but make the word coward and you can hear W working as a consonant."

[Bobmuhthol]

I don't know what you're quoting but that's a linguistics issue and letters, linguistically, are not vowels or consonants -- only sounds are.

[Drew]

I don't know what you're quoting but that's a linguistics issue and letters, linguistically, are not vowels or consonants -- only sounds are.

W is a vowel in the word cwm and pwn.

[Gnome Rage]

When connected to other vowels there is no restriction of air on the W which means that it is a vowel in that case.

Vowel: A speech sound that is produced by comparatively open configuration of the vocal tract, with vibration of the vocal cords but without audible friction and is a unit of the sound system of a language that forms the nucleus of a syllable

[Tgo01]

Gnome Rage has been waiting a whole day to unleash this knowledge.

[Drew]

Or it's just an actual vowel in some words without being part of a dipthong or ligature; like the ones I listed, crwth is another.

[Gnome Rage]

like PWNT.

:D

[Drew]

like PWNT.

:D


Sometimes I feel like you don't read my posts fully, but yes, that is a fine example (which may or may not have basically been given already).

[WRoss]

When connected to other vowels there is no restriction of air on the W which means that it is a vowel in that case.

Vowel: A speech sound that is produced by comparatively open configuration of the vocal tract, with vibration of the vocal cords but without audible friction and is a unit of the sound system of a language that forms the nucleus of a syllable

Words like "tow" fall into this category, but it isn't always the case when a W follows a vowel. For example "now".

[Drew]

Words like "tow" fall into this category, but it isn't always the case when a W follows a vowel. For example "now".

Barely related but I dislike when people write "tow the line". They are just tugboating that line all over town!

[Gnome Rage]

Words like "tow" fall into this category, but it isn't always the case when a W follows a vowel. For example "now".

Right. not all the time, its like Y - sometimes.

[Tgo01]

Latrinsorm raised a good point earlier though. If W gets special treatment as being a vowel 'sometimes' then why isn't H? In words like how and have?

[WRoss]

Latrinsorm raised a good point earlier though. If W gets special treatment as being a vowel 'sometimes' then why isn't H? In words like how and have?

H can be a vowel as well. More commonly in French than English. The best way I can describe this is to use "gh - o - ti" which is pronounced fish. The GH takes the fff sound, similar to the GH in tough. The O makes the i sound as in the O from woman. The TI makes the sh sound similar to the TI in emotion. Since the H preceds the traditional vowel and serves as silent, it results in the opening of the airway, thus being a vowel. As for a real English word, I don't know.

[Bobmuhthol]

When connected to other vowels there is no restriction of air on the W which means that it is a vowel in that case.

Letters are not vowels. Sounds are. Please stop.

[WRoss]

Letters are not vowels. Sounds are. Please stop.

And letters are what our brain uses to interpret visual queues into sounds. Please stop.

[pabstblueribbon]

This thread is fucking gay.

Please stop.

[Bobmuhthol]

If you never studied linguistics for a single day, sure, but the Latin alphabet does not capture sounds.

[Tgo01]

H can be a vowel as well. More commonly in French than English. The best way I can describe this is to use "gh - o - ti" which is pronounced fish. The GH takes the fff sound, similar to the GH in tough. The O makes the i sound as in the O from woman. The TI makes the sh sound similar to the TI in emotion. Since the H preceds the traditional vowel and serves as silent, it results in the opening of the airway, thus being a vowel. As for a real English word, I don't know.

Wouldn't the Hs in 'how' and 'have' serve as vowels?

[Bobmuhthol]

H does not become a vowel simply because you use it in an imaginary word used to point out that English words are spelled confusingly.

[joehollywood]

Tits should be vowels...then the last 5 pages of hypocritical english language rules and forms would have been fun...rather than stupid.

[diethx]

Tits should be vowels...then the last 5 pages of hypocritical english language rules and forms would have been fun...rather than stupid.

I concur.

[Cephalopod]

Whip.

Cool HWip.

[Latrinsorm]

Words like "tow" fall into this category, but it isn't always the case when a W follows a vowel. For example "now".I think the idea is that the w symbol alters the preceding vowel sound, so both tow (compare to) and now (compare no) count w as a vowel, which is to say as a co-equal partner in a vowular dipthong. (These are interesting examples because "tow" does not have the traditional "ow" sound, as typified in "now".)

It is my contention that the h symbol functions the same way, for instance in "blah". "Bla" does not exist, but my feeling is it would be pronounced like blam -m or perhaps black -ck, and would not receive the throaty ah without an h (a reasonable counterargument would be father). How and have have a consonantal h sound, the way "what" and "why" have a consonantal w sound. This treads on deadly ground, of course, as you can pronounce "now" with a very nearly consonantal w if you want to or are imitating fmr. Governor Schwarzenegger.

Thinking about ludicrous accents reminded me of a Boston accent, where "ar" arguably functions as a vowel. Like blind "people", it is arguable whether these even count as people, but they are using (a form of) English nonetheless.