Definition:
A letter of the alphabet (a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y) that represents a speech sound created by the relatively free passage of breath through the larynx and oral cavity. See also:
Etymology:
From the Latin, "voice"Examples and Observations:
- "Written English has five proper vowel letters, A, E, I, O, and U (Y may substitute for I). Yet spoken English has some 20 shades of vowel sounds. Accordingly, our vowel letters are kept busy, each one symbolizing multiple sounds on any written page. Our letters get some help from rules of spelling, which, for example, can specify the long A of 'rate' versus the short A of 'rat.'"
(David Sacks, Letter Perfect, Broadway Books, 2004) - "In all vowels, the mouth passage is unobstructed. If it is obstructed at any time during the production of a speech-sound, the resulting sound will be a consonant."
(Charles Laurence Barber, The English Language: A Historical Introduction, Cambridge University Press, 2000) - "In written English, . . . the 26 letters of the alphabet comprise 5 vowels and 21 consonants. In spoken English, there are 20 vowels and 24 consonants. It is this discrepancy, of course, which underlies the complexity of English spelling."
(David Crystal, How Language Works, Overlook Press, 2006) - "Brute animals have the vowel sounds; man only can utter consonants."
(Samuel Taylor Coleridge) - "Always end the name of your child with a vowel, so that when you yell the name will carry."
(Bill Cosby) - "The cow is of the bovine ilk;
One end is moo, the other, milk."
(Odgen Nash, "The Cow")
Pronunciation: VOW-ul
