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VOWELS: The word 'vowel' describes a letter used to represent a sound that is made by vibrating the vocal cords but without audible friction.
For example, when speaking the vowel sound represented by the letter 'o', the lips do not touch and the tongue does not touch the teeth.
But when speaking the word 'boat' a lot of things are happening.
# First the lips come together ready for the 'b' sound/noise to be gently and softly puffed out. There is some friction here, the lips come together, and when they part, you can hear the 'b' noise which is immediately followed by the 'oa' sound.
# The 'oa' sound, created by the vocal cords, comes out of the mouth through slightly parted lips, which are moved closer together during the pronunciation. No friction at this stage, but the vowel sound is being produced.
# The word is completed by bringing the front of the tongue to the back of the top teeth. A slight puff is poised at this point, and, as the tongue is withdrawn from the teeth, a slightly wet 't' sound is created as the air is expressed through the gap. There has been some 'friction' during this final stage, the air being restricted slightly by the tongue against/near the teeth. So we can see from this description of the speaking process used to say the word 'boat' that there is some 'friction' (air restriction) for the 'b' and the 't' sounds, but not for the vowel sound(s).
CONSONANTS: In contrast with vowels, consonants (b, c, d, f, g etc) are letters used to represent sounds in which the breath is obstructed at some point, even if only slightly. Consonants are consequently called fricatives, which means they are created by a friction, a restriction of the breath, by the tongue and/or the teeth in some way.
f w wrt sng nly cnsnnts, w wldn't knw hw t prnnc wrds!
(= If we wrote using only consonants, we wouldn't know how to pronounce words!)
w cld gss, bt w mght b wrng!
Notice how important the vowel is in these words that share the same consonants:-
pet, pot, pit, pat, put.
Without writing the vowels, all we would see would be p t, p t, p t, p t and p t. Not much use in communication! W cld gss, bt sng vwls s mch bttr!
Wiki User
∙ 15y ago
Wiki User
∙ 15y agoA, E, O, U, I, and sometimes Y, but only if it is the only vowel in a word or if it is next to another vowel.
Wiki User
∙ 15y agoThe definition of a vowel is a letter in the alphabet that is either an a,e,i,o,u. No word in the English language does not contain a vowel.
Wiki User
∙ 15y agoa e i o or u
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