I really never got this. Why is Y only a vowel Sometimes? I though a vowel was a letter that makes more than one sound.. either it does or it doesn't.. Right?
LOL, funny you should ask I was just reading an article last night (in Time, I think) about Pluto getting demoted to a lesser plant-like thing. The author was quite humorous, explaining that OF COURSE Pluto is not a planet and it never has been, not even close. LOL, he went on to say that it was high time we faced up to some other clearly ridiculous, but readily accepted, points of learning. For instance...he said.... Y is not a vowel. Not at all! It's a consonant, no ifs, ands, or butts. Instead of clumsily trying to identify "y" as a sometimes vowel, why not instead change the inane rules that necessitate it being so. Why can't we spell the words that use y as a vowel in a more common sensical manner. Cript instead of crypt. Ski instead of sky, which then of course would change the spelling of skee, which we do in Aspen. Also, Europe needs to stop posing as a continent. It is a portion of Asia, there is no ambiguity about it. Europe is no continent and they need to stop being so greedy, asking us all to assume they are. Isn't the value of the Euro against the US dollar enough for them? LOL, it was really a funny article. Good for you, Syele, to be asking the same questions as one of the leading columnists in America
(Rolling my eyes at Jacci.) All words (actually all syllables) have to have a vowel. Y is used a s a vowel in words such as SKY and BY. Also, in words that end in Y, such as BUNNY. But it is also a consonant when it starts words such as YELLOW and YOU. I also learned that W is also a "sometimes" vowel when I was little. But I sure as heck don't know why!!!
Never heard of w being a vowel sometimes...Is that some Ohio thing? Jacci that was pretty good! I mean truly our language is so difficult that we have to have all these goofy rules. When I was a kid we had foriegn exchange students from Japan and they actually tell them to learn Spanish first and then learn English. Go figure!
Yep, W is sometimes a vowel also....I learned that to.. Hey She, Its not a Ohio thing... :lol: The way I rememberd or at least try to remember is that vowels are sounds...... I can think of just one example, cow or how....We are taught that *ow* is a dipthong, but its just two vowel sounds together.. There was a big debate years back, that we should just teach kids *y and w* can both be vowels...I guess its probably still going on.. That is the only example I know..LOL...
Oh!!! So it's a vowel when it's part of a diphtong! That makes sense, but it's never a vowel on its own!
It is my understanding that if y makes the vowel sound, like in the examples Jackie gave, it is a vowel in that situation.
Did someone just say diphthong? Seriously, though, Jackie - you may roll your eyes - but, did you ever stop to ask WHY all words have to have a vowel? Isn't that rather arbitrary? Why can't we just say "big blue sky" and accept that the last word is all consonants. Why can't we just say "y" is a consonant that occassionally poses as a vowel when it steals the vowel sounds of other letters, but in all actuality it remains a consonant? And didn't you always wonder deep down about why in the world Europe got to be its own continent?
I wasn't rolling eyes at you, Jacci! Just the article in general. I'm a speech/language person. Vowels are necessary not from a SPELLING point of view, but from a PRONUNCIATION point of view. Vowels are needed to blend the consonants together. Think of nonsense words. If you saw the "word" KLIMP, for example, we would get a rather consistant pronunciation. But leave out the vowel, KLMP, and no one would have any idea how to say it. It actually CAN'T be said, really, without the vowel. That is why each syllable MUST have a vowel.
You know...I am wondering how many of you, as adults, have a conversation with someone and thinks to themselves...."I just used the work *sky*...is the y a vowel or not?"....LOL I never even think of whether the words are using vowels, or adjectives, verbs, nouns. I know what they all are, and what they mean...but I seriously wonder why it matters in every day life as adults. Ok...maybe as a teacher...to teach our kids, but unless you are going into education...why does it matter? LOL Can you tell I didn't care for english???
I don't know the definition of a vowel, but "c" can have two sounds and it's only a consonant, so there's another wacky aspect of our language! Just curious, Jackie, when you say you are a speech/language person, what do you mean? I'm asking because I could describe myself the same way. I majored/minored in foreign languages at Ohio State and taught English as a Second Language in Europe for nearly 3 years. (I wish someone would've told the Slovenians how important vowels are--several consonants in a row can be quite a mouthful!!) I also loved those linguistic courses at OSU!
Yep, Yep, like you brought out we need it FOR SOUND, FOR PRONUNICIATION....No its not a vowel on its own, because let me think, *cow* adding something to make the w a consonant would be *coward* then you hear the W. So I always remember its the sound the letter y and w makes.... I guess it would apply to *aw* *ew* as well now that you brought it up,eh?
I graduated from Bowling Green with a major in Deaf/Elementary Education. I also took MANY additional classes at OSU for both Deaf Ed and Physically Handicapped. Communication was a very large part of both those programs. I've learned a lot of language development, the nature of language, acquisition of language, phonetics, etc. Compare that to my DH who is a math/science geek, lol!
I'm just being silly guys. I got a kick out of the humor in the article. Now, this is the last thing I'll say about the vowel thing: I know you need a vowel sound to pronounce a word, and I realize that y makes a vowel sound quite often. What I meant was, can't we just call it a consonant all the time and let it sound like a vowel some of the time? Do I really think that y should not be a vowel? No, of course not I also think it's fine that Europe is a continent and that Pluto is not a planet, LOL. I was just in a playful mood, I guess. Sorry to not give your question a serious answer, Syele. Hope you'll over look my silliness. Jackie & the others have given very good and clear evidence in favor of y being a vowel... sometimes
ROFL!! You guys crack me up! I only asked because Sami wanted to know and it really didn't seem all that important to me. Now, mind you, Reading was always my best subject in school... but this just seemed like a pointless distinction to me. Of course I was one of those kids they experimented on by not teaching any phonics and I thought it was odd that I needed to know the alphabet in order to read... So what do I know?? LOL I think I'm going to quit trying to make sense of these things and just teach things when the phonics and grammar books tell me too...
You're never too old to learn new things! Hey, I never new that "W" was sometimes a vowel. I know I never learned that. I asked my, dh and he did learn it, but never knew when it was a vowel. That was my English lesson for today!
hehe Yeah I'm learning them as I teach her. I was always the best reader in my classes though...honestly, it made me wonder if phonics rules were really as great as they are cracked up to be.
Jacci, I'm sorry if I gave the wrong impression! I do understand you found it amusing, and it really was. Syelle, YOU'RE A HOMESCHOOLER AND YOU'RE NOT SOLD ON PHONICS???!!! (Big grin here!) I'm a frim believer in (glancing around to see if any militant HS'ers are around so I don't get kicked out and sent back to PS!) (whispering VERY QUIETLY here): whole language. Most HS'ers seem to believe it's anti-phonics and a whole word approach. It's not. It's realizing that phonics is only a PART of learning to read. We also need to use context, grammer clues, sight words, etc. to effectively read. They believe in teaching the phonics, etc. in the context of "real" reading rather than seperate worksheets.
