Why is sometimes y a vowel

What sound does the U represent in "united"? Most of the time a spoken vowel will be represented by one of those written forms. And Y swings between vowel and consonant more than other swing letters. But it's worth remembering that letters are not speech sounds.

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The same is true when the Y serves as the only vowel in the syllable. However, if the Y does not provide a separate vowel sound, as when it is coupled with another vowel, it is considered a consonant. In names such as Maloney or Murray, the Y is a consonant, because the vowel sound depends upon the long E in Maloney and the long A in Murray. In general, the Y is a consonant when the syllable already has a vowel.

Also, the Y is considered a consonant when it is used in place of the soft J sound, such as in the name Yolanda or Yoda. In the names Bryan and Wyatt, the Y is a vowel, because it provides the only vowel sound for the first syllable of both names. For both of these names, the letter A is part of the second syllable, and therefore does not influence the nature of the Y.

Also not being an English speaker, I mostly seem to default to the logic used with an i in Latin. That i acts like a consonant j when it appears before another vowel except for diphthongs. Consequently, the Latin alphabet did not officially have a j. As far as I can tell, this is the case with the y in English, though I don't have any sources or statistical evidence to back that claim. NB: If you had Latin in school and the j was used eg. Sign up to join this community.

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Learn more. When is "Y" a vowel? Ask Question. Asked 10 years, 9 months ago. Active 5 years, 11 months ago. Viewed k times. The letter is probably more often used as a vowel, but in this role it's often interchangeable with the letter I. However, the consonant sound is not consistently represented in English spelling by any other letter, and perhaps for this reason Y tends traditionally to be counted among the consonants. You may also be interested in: Why is 'w' pronounced 'double u' rather than 'double v'?

Or take a look at: Are there any words in the English language that have all the five vowels with no intevening consonants? Facebook YouTube Twitter Instagram. The Latest. When is it a consonant? To sum it up: Want to test out your newfound Y knowledge? Practice your Y determination skills here: Comments comments. Language and Grammar Sporcle Standards.