why is the letter y sometimes classed as a vowel ?

Question

this is something ive never quite got my head around when i was at school we got taught that the vowels were a,e,i,o,u,y but we never actually got the reasoning behind it and i would really like to know why

Answer 1

Sorry for those who weren't taught this (or forgot it), but the "sometimes y" version of the rule is correct.

Just check the definition of "vowel" in a dictionary and you'll have the basic answer. For example:

1. A speech sound. .. created by the relatively free passage of breath through the larynx and oral cavity, usually forming the most prominent and central sound of a syllable.
2. A letter, such as a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y in the English alphabet, that represents a vowel.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/vowel
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Note those TWO uses of the word. "Vowel" refers, FIRST of all, to a type of SOUND --one in which there is minimal blockage of the airflow. With a "consonant", on the other hand, there is significant blockage (sometimes even stopping the airflow completely, as with "stops" -- b, p, t, d, k, g)

The usage of "vowel" for a LETTER is secondary, based on this first meaning. Things are simple for a,e,i,,o and u because they are ALWAYS used to indicate "vowel sounds".

But Y confuses people because in English it is sometimes used for vowel sounds, sometimes for consonant sounds.

In fact, when you start looking at it, you discover that it is much more often a vowel --- making the same sound indicated by "i" or "e" does elsewhere.

(If it helps -- our letter Y is originally borrowed from the Greek letter "upsilon" -- which is a VOWEL.)

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So WHEN is y a vowel, when a consonant?

The basic rule is this:

Y at the BEGINNING of a syllable marks a consonant sound (and so may be called a consonant) examples: yak, yellow,

Y elsewhere in a syllable (middle or end) represents a vowel sound (and so is called a vowel). examples -- the many words with a -y ending/suffix: happy, funny...
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This all may be easier to see if you put some words side-by-side with i-words in which it represents exactly the same sound:

cry - cries, sky - skies, fly - flies
rhyme - time
lay - lei
soy - soil

(Note that i is more often used in the middle of a syllable, y at the end. Consider all the words that change from y to i when adding an ending - fly > flies, happy > happier)

Answer 2

It's not that it is 'sometimes classed as a vowel' as you say, but quite simply, that is is sometimes used for the vowel sound of the letter 'i', in its 'short' form.

All the vowel sounds have 'long' and 'short' ways of being pronounced - if pronounced correctly! Examples of a 'long' 'i' sound would be in the words "thigh" or "high" (You are actually SAYING the letter).

Examples of a 'short' 'i' sound would be in the words "rich" or "b*tch" (you are CLIPPING the vowel sound).

Examples of where the short 'i' sound is achieved, using a letter 'i', and the long 'i' sound is achieved using a letter 'y' would be "trying" and "lying".

As pointed out already, words that do not have a vowel in them, still use the 'y' to get the vowel sound that the word still needs: the word "rhythm", for example (About as close as you really get to "classing" the letter 'y' as a vowel).

Other languages have different numbers of vowels. Many African languages, for example, do not regard 'u' as a vowel. They use a very clipped-sounding 'a' - "utterly" sort of sounds like "atterly" (the letter is still in the alphabet and used for the spelling, it's just that it is not regarded as a vowel).

Answer 3

As far as I understand it, y is not a vowel but sometimes acts as one for the following reason.
No English word ends in "i". If a word we use ends in "i" it originates from another language and has not been assimilated into English. Obvious examples are "spaghetti" and "ravioli" which are Italian words.

English words that sound as if they end in "i" often end instead in "y". Examples are tidy, happy, berry, silly.
When the "i" sound is no longer at the end of the word, it reverts back to what it always wanted to be - an "i".
For example:
tidy - tidies; happy - happiness; berry - berries; silly - silliness.
Every word in the English language includes a vowel except where the vowel is replaced by a "y".
Examples include: dry, fry, my.
In these cases, "y" is acting like a vowel but giving the same sound as the vowel "I".

Answer 4

Y is often thought of as a vowel because words need vowels. However, some words manage a y instead. Eg. why and crypt. Therefore y is considered a vowel.

Answer 5

In Britain, a e i o u were the vowels, and the rest consonants, but y is used as a vowel in some languages. W is called a consonant, but like y it can be a vowel. It's all a question of local usage and using a particular letter for convenience.

Answer 6

I don't know why the Y is used that way. I can only think of hand of one word that does use it and the is "pyx" which is a sort of box used in a church and by the mint for sample coins. But what amazes me is that some people have never heard that the Y can be a vowel.

Answer 7

Y is not a vowel but i have heard this before. words have to have vowels in them otherwise you couldn't pronounce them or atleast not very well so when you get words like "rhythm" or "sky" or "fly," the Y acts as the vowel sound.

Answer 8

In the Welsh Language y is a vowel

Answer 9

The Americans seem to regard it as a vowel. However, it always seemed more of a contextual thing. The 'y' in sky would be a vowel. The 'y' in yellow would not.

Answer 10

Strictly speaking the letter 'y' is not a vowel. However, it is sometimes used as a replacement for the letter 'i' in such words as 'sky' 'fly' 'cry' 'spy' etc. The basic rule of thumb in English, is that every word in the language should have at least one vowel.

Beyond what I've said above, zilch!