What makes a vowel

English has at least 24 consonant sounds. Hawaiian, around eight, and Lithuanian 45—still nothing on some languages in southern Africa! How vowels and consonants are distributed and patterned together in a language is called phonology.

This can called be a syllabic consonant, which can fill the vowel slot in a syllable. English can have them in the final syllables of words like bottle and button , among other environments. To put it simply, L , R , M , N , and the — ng in sing can have vowel-like properties and be syllabic. Now, English does have a number of interjections it spells without vowels and vocalizes without true vowels that are considered words, such as: brrr , hmm , shh , tsk , pfft , or psst.

Generally, however, English words are said and written with at least one vowel. But, play cwm next time in Scrabble for some big-time points. Feedback Tired of Typos? Word of the Day. Meanings Meanings. Previous "Dissent" vs. First, where does the word vowel come from?

What is the difference between a vowel and a consonant? Does every language have vowels? Consonants and vowels do not make syllables on their own. A vowel paired with a consonant makes a syllable. A syllable is a unit of sound that creates meaning in language. Vowels alone do not make syllables.

Instead, they pair with consonants to create what we know as syllables. Furthermore, syllables can have more than one vowel and more than one consonant. Still, a syllable cannot have more than one consonant or vowel sound. The sound that vowels make is used to create a literary device called assonance. There is miaoued. The variant spelling and past-tense verb of the cry of a cat. Though not composed of each of the vowel letters, euouae and its plural hold the English language lexical record of having six vowels in a row.

In certain words, each of Y and W can represent a vowel sound. The longest word in a standard English language dictionary without a representative vowel is the seven letter word tsktsks. So why k is not considered as vowels???? Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. When is it a vowel and when is it a consonant? Enjoy this article?

Articles Featured Facts Language. Abstemious is my favorite word that has all 5 vowels in order. It somehow missed your list.

Steve January 11, pm. Sometimes you can use the adverbial form.