Why is Y sometimes a vowel?

The Week ^ | 1/18/15 | Arika Okrent

[DallasBiff]

I know from 10 years ago, some think the letter "y" is non binary, but I will stick with the experts at "Wheel of Fortune", that the letter "Y" is a consonant.

Before anybody gets mad at me, the above is tongue in cheek, mods pull if to controversial.

[BipolarBob]

Before anybody gets mad at me, the above is tongue in cheek, mods pull if to controversial.

This triggers me. I feel like blocking a bridge, hanging from a billboard but I think self immolation is going too far. I'll go to my safe space and cuddle with my teddy bear until I get over it.

[Chode]

but they never taught us when it was a vowel...

[BipolarBob]

mods pull if to controversial.

Next time try "too". As in too controversial. You're really pushing peoples buttons here.

[left that other site]

Y can be a Consonant or a Vowel,

But Pluto will always be a PLANET to me.

[Greg123456]

What is the second vowel in “rhythm”?

[Jamestown1630]

LOL!

I agree :-)

[lee martell]

Some consider Y as an ancient glyph for “dangling participles”.

[Dr. Sivana]

[Olog-hai]

Y, as in Greek upsilon, started as a vowel. Same with its variants U, V and W. It always had both consonant and vowel forms, same with the letter it currently falsely shares a pronunciation with in contemporary speech, I (as from Greek iota).

Lots of articles not from 2024 being posted . . .

[BradyLS]

“A, E, I, O, and U. And sometimes Y” was how I learned the vowels.

Y is a consonant until does the duty of a vowel in words like: cry, dry, fly, my, try, wyrd, and some others.

[P.O.E.]

We learned it as “sometimes Y and W “

Turns out there’s a perfectly good scrabble word “cwm” (pronounced “koom”)

[PAR35]

A secret they don’t share in school - English actually has more than 26 letters. Don’t trust your English teachers.

Among the suppressed letters is & (pronounced et). Another vowel they try to suppress is Æ. And finally, there’s the borrowed ï. And don’t forget to resume work on your résumé.

[Dr. Sivana]

What is the second vowel in “rhythm”?

"Y", the "m" acts as a syllabic consonant and contains a second "y". (I had to look that up.)

[dfwgator]

I need to brush up on the umlaut.

[Chode]

i mean when i was in school, at least i don’t remember it, they just said it...

[Bullish]

Because sometimes you have to PARTY?

[Jamestown1630]

It seems to do with how it’s formed in the mouth, and its relationships to other letters in in the word:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/why-y-is-sometimes-a-vowel-usage

[dfwgator]

Because sometimes you have to PARTY?

You have to fight for your right.

[Jamestown1630]

That’s Welsh.