[net.nlang] vowels

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)

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