But its consonant sound is unique, and that seems to be why y is more often considered to be a consonant and only "sometimes" a vowel. Linguistically, the "sometimes" part of the grade-school lesson doesn't make sense, since the letter y is more commonly pronounced as a vowel. Air flow is not impeded in sounding \y\ (if it was y would be a true consonant) however, the mouth is not opened as fully as in articulating the vowel \y\ in early. For example, there's a very brief long e sound when articulating \y\ in yes. Technically, this sound of \y\ is considered a semivowel or glide, which is a less prominent vowel speech sound that occurs in the articulation of two consecutive vowel sounds unequal in prominence. Typically, y represents a consonant when it starts off a word or syllable, as in yard, lawyer, or beyond. When y forms a diphthong-two vowel sounds joined in one syllable to form one speech sound, such as the "oy" in toy, "ay" in day, and "ey" in monkey-it is also regarded as a vowel. In such cases, the letter y is pronounced as either the long vowel e or short or long i (usually as a long i when ending a word)-and, for all intents and purposes, it is a vowel. The letter is in the middle of a syllable: system, borborygmus. The letter is at the end of a word or syllable: candy, deny, bicycle, acrylic. What is special about the letter y is that it can represent both kinds of speech sounds-depending on its position and the letters surrounding it in a word. (in other words, there's minimal manipulation of air flow while expelling a vowel sound) a consonant, on the other hand, is one (such as \p\, \d\, or \s\) that is made by partly or completely stopping the flow of air breathed out from the mouth with the tongue, teeth, lips, etc. Technically, the terms vowel and consonant (from Latin vocalis, meaning "vocal," and Latin consonare, "to sound together") refer to particular speech sounds: a vowel is one made with your mouth open and your tongue in the middle of your mouth not touching your teeth, lips, etc.
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