Why is "y" not a vowel?

Answer 1

Y is considered to be a vowel sometimes. It usually acts as a vowel at the end of a word. In ( my or by) it says the long i sound. and in ( crazy or lazy) the y says the long e sound.
It is not called a vowel because it also acts as a consonant.

Answer 2

It's a consonant that sometimes acts like a vowel. I don't know the technical linguistic definition, but I'm sure there is one.

I did just figure out that, other than vowels, "y" and "h" are the only sounds you can make without moving any part of your mouth. And in the case of "h", it was traditional to put "an" before "h", though that seems to have largely died out.

One more thing: as"y" is a consonant, does that make "rhythm" the only word in the English language with no vowels?

Answer 3

Y is technically a consonant, but can be used as a vowel in some situations. In words that already contain a vowel that also have a y, the y is considered a consonant. But it some cases, a y is used as a vowel when the word may have no other vowels except that y.

Answer 4

Vowels are letters that connect the word. You cannot pronounce a word that doesn't have a vowel, for example, try to pronounce this- tghbwqrz. You can pronounce this, though- togahbewaqrez (same letters with vowels inserted). Sometimes "y" can be used to connect consonants, other times, it cannot, which is why "y" is only sometimes a vowel.

Actually... "y" is a vowel in the word "why."

Answer 5

It is sometimes considered a vowel. But since this is not always the case, they leave it out of the list of vowels.

Answer 6

Sometimes it is a vowel. It depends on the word it is used in. An example would be:
your, "y" is a consonant.
my, "y" is a vowel

Answer 7

A vowel should have a vowel sound no matter where it comes in the word. AEIO satisfy this condition. U doesn't, in words like University (where it is pronounced more like yu-niversity instead of oo-niversity). Similarly, Y is pronounced consonant-like when at start of word (Yes, Yellow, Yankee, etc.), but vowel-like when at end (trendy, heavy, etc.). So technically, your question is right. if Y is regarded as consonant, so should be U.
But then I guess somebody slipped up on it.

Answer 8

Well, the way I look at it is this:

An automobile
An electric fan
An open container
An interesting fact
An unbelieveable sight


An yellow bus??????


An only goes in front of words that begin with vowels. Hope this helps???

Answer 9

y is a vowel in some of these words like zephyr, dynametrics

Answer 10

Yeh!

But what about the X?
Why isn't that a vowel, either?

It's not fair - that's what I say.


We want Ys and Xs for Vowels
Yeh