Is 'w' a vowel?

Question

My friend and I were arguing about whether 'w' counts as a vowel. He cited the Welsh word 'cwm,' in which the 'w' makes a 'oo' sound. He also pointed out that the name is 'double-u,' implying that it once was a vowel. Does one word that is barely in the english language count as evidence for 'w' as a vowel?

Answer 1

Well ,
In English it's not a vowel .All English words got the letter "W" sounds / w / not / u / .Notice that yourself...Window ,wind,wide ,....and so on.
But your frind is right in onepoint ,that is "w" counts a s a vowel in other languages when it's pronounced as / u / or /oo / or / ou / .
But ,in words like "window,elbow,......" the last "w" with the previous "o" counts as (diphthong) that is like a gemenated vowel - the so called semivowel -.so in Phonetic transcription both of them together are called (diphthong).But"w" is nevr a vowel in isolation.
Hope it helps.

Answer 2

Interesting to see such passion on this question, here and elsewhere. I have a hunch that some of these simple "w is not a vowel" answers come more from what the writers happen to have been taught rather than some authoritative research (no offense to those who did real research and just summarized :-).

Part of the reason there is a split of opinion (not so much here, but if you search around the web, you'll find it) is that a lot of people wrongly think there is a sharp dividing line between consonants and vowels. If you look up the definition of vowel, you're likely to find a pretty technical answer involving where your tongue goes, what your breath does, etc. When it comes to real cases, in a language like English, the line is blurry.

I found it especially amusing that the PBS curriculum citation put it in terms of "official" vowels, like it's mentioned in the constitution somewhere. Hey, wouldn't that be a sweet job, checking for unofficial vowels at the airport gate as part of Homeland Security?

Anyhow, I think you've found all the surrounding facts (semi-vowels, diphthongs) about the situation in various answers here. Whether you conclude that "w" is sometimes a vowel probably depends mostly on what you personally were taught. (About a zillion years ago, I learned it the "sometimes is" way, but nobody ever mentioned "semi-vowel" in my presence until recent days.)

PS:- If you think "w" is always either silent or exerts consonant-like qualities on a word, explain "ewe". :-)

Answer 3

OK now I feel really old. When I went to elementary school we were taught that the vowels were a,e,i,o,u and sometimes y and sometimes w. The y is obvious in words like sky. The example of the sometimes w is the word show. It doesn't sound like a vowel, but it completes the rule when two vowels go walking the first one does the talking. That is two vowel together make the first one a long vowel sound. Hence the w in the word show makes the o long.

Answer 4

No, "w" is not a vowel or ever has been.

It is a consonant.

Edit:

The letter W is not a vowel, even though it is often added to a vowel letter to stand for a vowel sound (COW, SHOW, PAW, FEW, BREW). Unlike Y in MYTH and BABY, for example, W never stands alone for a vowel sound. The letter H works the same way, as in YEAH, OH, AH, or HONEST. And don't forget G, which joins with H to become a silent vowel companion in certain spelling patterns: NIGHT, THOUGHT, EIGHT. Still, A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y are officially known as the vowel letters of the alphabet, and all the others are officially consonants.

http://pbskids.org/lions/parentsteachers/help/faq/curriculum.html

Answer 5

Welsh is a seperate language (in which w *is* a vowel) so the use of w as a vowel in "cwm" doesn't matter if you're only talking about whether it's a vowel in English- where it is not.

Answer 6

W is not a vowel. There are words which might not contain vowels because they're cultural or some such. But in the modern English language "W" is a consonant.

Answer 7

A "W" is a consonant. It can also be a "voiced" sound. Follow the link and it tells you that all vowels are "voiced" (makes your throat vibrate), while only some consonants are voiced (most are "unvoiced" like the "t" and "ch" sounds that don't make your throat move).

So, "W" is a consonant that shares some pronunciation properties with vowels.

Now somebody please explain how the word "one" has a "w" sound at the beginning? (try explaining that to a foreign language speaker :^)

Answer 8

In the English language, W is most definitely a consonant -- not a vowel.

Answer 9

"W" is called a "semivowel."

Letters in English are divided into three groups: consonants, vowels, and semivowels. There are two semivowels: "y" and "w."

Semivowels are sometimes consonants and sometimes vowels. They are consonants when they start a word (usually) or start a syllable. They are vowels when they follow another vowel ("a," "e," "i," "o," or "u") or come at the end of a word or syllable.

Examples of "w" as a consonant: "water" and "weave."
Examples of "w" as a vowel: "now" and "few."

Answer 10

Tell your friend that in the english language that the "W" is not a vowel, that in the english language there are only 5 vowels and one some time vowel. The vowels in the english language are "A", "E", "I", "O", "U" and some times "Y".