boyajian@akov68.DEC (Jerry Boyajian) (07/28/84)
> Unless you don't count "r" phonetically as a vowel. I mean like > the vowel sound in words like "fern", "bird", "worm", and "urn". > Phonetically, that's a vowel though. > > On another subject, I have a housemate who claims that 'w' > is never a vowel in non-welsh words, whereas I claim that the > 'w' in "down" is a vowel. Any linguistics experts willing to > settle this one? > > -Glenn You are only half-right. The "ow" in "down" is a diphthong, which makes the "w" a semi-vowel. A semi-vowel is a consonant that sometimes behaves like a vowel when it is combined with a true vowel in a diphthong. The "r" in your above ex- amples is also a semi-vowel, because like the "w" in "down", it carries on the sound of the vowel that precedes it. "Y" is also a semi-vowel, though of course it is occasionally used as a true vowel, as in "gypsy" or "yclept". --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Maynard, MA) UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA