In English, at least as I learned it 40 years ago, the vowels are a, e, i, o , u, and sometimes y. I know that every word must have a vowel. But, what IS a vowel. Why is “a” a vowel and “b” is not?
Muchas gracias.
In: 7
Speech is made with airflow going from your lungs and out your mouth, right? Consonants are the sounds made by partially blocking that airflow. For example, your tongue might touch the roof of your mouth (like the sound, not the letter, “t”), or the back of your teeth (like “th”), or your teeth touch your lips (“f” and “v”).
Vowels are the sounds made by not blocking the airflow. Your tongue isn’t touching anything else, your teeth aren’t up to any funny business, etc. The sound is changed mostly by changing the tongue’s position in your mouth *without it touching anything else*. In fact, start going “ahhhhhhhhh” “ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy” “eeeeeeeee” etc. and you can feel your tongue’s position changing! Some vowels are further forward or back, or up or down.
Also, consonants can be “voiced” or “voiceless”. If you want to know what that means, put your hand on the front of your neck and go “vvvvvv”. Now go “ffffffffff”. The only difference between those two sounds is your voicebox vibrates for v and not for f. Otherwise, the consonants are formed identically.
All vowels, however, are voiced. Again, you can try it! Hand on the front of your neck and start making vowel sounds and you’ll feel your voicebox vibrating.
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