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Vowels are characterized in two primary ways. From a phonetic perspective, a vowel is a sound produced by the vibration of the vocal cords with minimal or no blockage in the vocal tract, allowing the sound to flow freely. Additionally, vowels are represented by specific letters in writing. In English, these letters include a, e, i, o, u, and occasionally y (and rarely w). However, English encompasses a greater number of vowel sounds than these letters suggest—most American English dialects feature around 15 to 16 distinct vowel sounds. In contrast, languages like Spanish and Russian typically have fewer vowel sounds, which are often pronounced consistently with their written forms.
Vowels possess unique characteristics that set them apart, such as duration (short or long), the positioning of the mouth and tongue, their relationship to neighboring vowels, the rounding of the lips, and nasalization. Dive into the fascinating world of vowels by exploring questions like: Can a language exist without vowel sounds? What exactly is a triphthong? Which language boasts up to 55 vowel sounds? Are there English words completely devoid of vowels? And what was the significance of The Great Vowel Shift?
10. Ubykh Language
Ubykh—also spelled Ubyx—is a language that lost its last native speaker in 1992. Belonging to the Northwest Caucasian Language family, the Ubykh people originally inhabited the Sochi region along the Black Sea's eastern coast. They were displaced by Russian forces during the mid-19th century.
Tevfik Esenç—the final fluent speaker of Ubykh—dedicated significant time collaborating with linguists, serving as a cultural and linguistic representative for a language nearing extinction. Among the many intriguing aspects of Ubykh studied, one fact stands out: the language features as few as two distinct vowel sounds. This is particularly remarkable given that Ubykh boasts one of the largest consonant inventories ever recorded, with 81 to 84 consonant sounds—surpassed only by the click-rich Khoisan languages of southern Africa. The extreme imbalance between consonants and vowels in Ubykh is unparalleled in the history of world languages.
It’s noteworthy that the Karbadian language of the Middle East, related to Ubykh, was once believed to have only one distinct vowel sound, with some even arguing it had none. Modern research suggests it has three vowels, and linguists widely agree that no language without vowel sounds will ever be discovered. The video above features Tevfik Esenç narrating a story in Ubykh.
9. Semivowels
Ah, the semivowel. Neither fully a vowel nor entirely a consonant, the semivowel occupies a unique linguistic space. Phonetically, semivowels are classified as “approximants,” a category they share with a few other sounds. English includes two semivowels: w and y. When pronounced, it’s evident why they straddle the line between vowels and consonants; while there’s slight obstruction, the sounds flow similarly to vowels. They are also referred to as “glides.”
In English spelling, y and w function as semivowels when they appear at the start of words, follow a prefix, or (in the case of w) come after a consonant. However, when they conclude words, they merge with the preceding vowel to alter its sound. For example, in the word “paw,” the w transforms the “a” into a diphthong rather than acting as a semivowel. Similarly, the “y” in “pay” modifies the vowel sound (refer to item 7 for more details).
From a phonological standpoint—phonology being the study of how sounds create meaning in language—classifying semivowels becomes more intricate. By definition, vowels are “syllabic,” meaning they can stand alone as complete syllables. In contrast, y and w cannot; they must attach to a vowel to form a syllable.
8. Syllables
Syllables are the building blocks of spoken language, organizing sounds into manageable units. Typically, a syllable consists of three parts: onset, nucleus, and coda. The nucleus and coda together form the rime. For instance, in the word “ten,” the “t” is the onset, the “e” is the nucleus, and the “n” is the coda—with “e” and “n” forming the rime. In English, a vowel is usually required as the nucleus of a syllable (see #3), though some languages use syllabic consonants in this role. English syllables can have an onset and rime (“cat”), an onset and coda (“me”), just a rime (“it”), or only a nucleus, as in the word “owe,” which consists of a single diphthong serving as the nucleus, syllable, and entire word. Some languages mandate an onset, meaning every syllable must begin with a vowel.
The term “rime” refers to the nucleus of a syllable, sometimes including the coda, and is closely linked to poetry. In rhyming, it’s the rime that creates the rhyming effect by matching sounds between words.
7. Diphthongs & Triphthongs
A diphthong occurs when two vowel sounds blend within a single syllable, creating a seamless transition from one sound to another. For example, in the word “fight,” the vowel sound starts as in “fa” and shifts to the sound in “feet.” English is rich in diphthongs—the phrase “no highway cowboys” features five distinct examples. However, not all vowel pairs form diphthongs; in “neon,” the “e” and “o” remain separate, creating two distinct syllables.
A triphthong, on the other hand, combines three vowel sounds into one, as heard in the British pronunciation of “hour.” Here, the first vowel acts as the nucleus, though in some languages, the second or third vowel may serve this role. There’s debate over whether words like “layer” contain a triphthong or two separate vowel sounds. English’s tendency to blend vowels together, with minimal movement, contributes to its complexity for non-native speakers.
6. Apophony
Apophony, often interchangeable with “ablaut,” refers to vowel gradation, where related words exhibit different vowel sounds. For instance, the first “o” in “photograph” is long, while in “photography,” it’s short. In this case, both words remain nouns without grammatical inflection. However, apophony specifically involves vowel changes that result in grammatical shifts, such as altering a word’s tense or pluralizing it.
Here are a few examples:
– Sing/sang/sung/song. This set demonstrates four distinct vowel changes, each creating a unique word with specific grammatical meanings (three verb tenses and a noun). – Mouse/mice. The only phonetic difference lies in the vowel between the “m” and “s” sounds, resulting in the plural form.
5. Sedang
Sedang is a language spoken by approximately 100,000 people in Laos and Vietnam, belonging to the Austro-Asiatic language family. It is part of the Bahnaric Language group, which is renowned for its extensive variety of vowel sounds.
Sedang stands out globally for its remarkable number of vowel sounds, with some studies suggesting as many as 55. Determining the exact count is challenging due to subtle differences between similar sounds, influenced by factors like vowel length and quality, sparking debate over which language holds the title for the most vowels.
Breaking it down, Sedang features 24 pure vowels (single vowels, not combined as diphthongs). These can be categorized into 7 base vowels, each capable of being plain, nasalized, or “creaky”—a unique sound produced by vibrating the vocal folds to create a tone two octaves higher than the plain version. Three of these vowels can exhibit both nasal and creaky qualities. When combined with a variable number of diphthongs, the language boasts an extraordinary range of vowel sounds.
Interestingly, the “creaky” vowel quality, also known as “vocal fry,” has been observed in the speech patterns of American women and certain dialects in the American Northwest. Listen to the Sedang language in the clip above.
4. Schwa
Imagine the human mouth as a 3D grid for vowel production—the central point is occupied by the schwa, symbolized as “?” in the International Phonetic Alphabet. This “uh” sound, heard at the start of “about,” is phonetically termed a “mid-central” vowel. In English, it’s the most frequent vowel sound, typically appearing in unstressed syllables. The schwa can mimic any vowel in English, such as:
The “a” in “sofa” The “e” in “photosynthesis” The “i” in “terrible” The second “o” in “commonly” The “u” in “medium” The “y” in “syringe.”
Its usage varies across English dialects but is almost always found in unstressed syllables. In New Zealand and South African English, the high front vowel in “sit” has shifted so close to the schwa that linguists often represent it with a “?.”
In a process called “schwa syncope” or “schwa deletion,” schwa sounds are often dropped in speech. This typically occurs in syllables located mid-word after the stressed syllable, such as in “cam(e)ra” or “choc(o)late.” However, schwa syncope is not present in all English dialects.
Schwas also appear in various other languages, such as Albanian, Romanian, French, Korean, and Hindi.
3. Great Vowel Shift
The Great Vowel Shift deserves far more attention than a brief mention, as it fundamentally transformed English pronunciation. Occurring between the 15th and 18th centuries, this shift involved long vowels moving “upward” in the mouth. Vowels already at the top became diphthongs, drastically altering English pronunciation and contributing to its complex spelling system.
The modern English word “ripe” was once pronounced “reep.” Saying both aloud reveals how the tongue shifts to produce different vowel sounds. Similarly, “house,” now a diphthong, was once pronounced like “hoose,” a long vowel near the top of the mouth. During the Great Vowel Shift, five long vowels moved upward, and two became diphthongs. Exceptions like “broad,” which doesn’t rhyme with “road” or “toad,” highlight English’s spelling inconsistencies, especially with words containing “ea.”
The causes of the Great Vowel Shift remain debated among linguists and historians. Theories range from accent changes after the Black Death migrations to social class influences. Without audio recordings, researchers rely on texts from the period to piece together this linguistic puzzle.
2. Words Without Consonants
There’s a distinction between written consonants and spoken ones. For instance, “eye” includes a written “y” but is pronounced as a single diphthong. While English has a few one-syllable words like this, it’s generally consonant-heavy. Some languages feature longer words without consonants, but English has only a few, such as “aa,” which are typically loanwords or scientific terms.
Many Polynesian languages, such as Hawaiian, feature numerous longer words where vowel syllables are divided by “glottal stops” (like the pause in “uh-oh”). An example is “ae?ea,” the name of a small green fish and the mythical land of Circe. Other languages like Swahili, Finnish, Rapa Nui, and Portuguese also include longer words without consonants.
1. Words Without Vowels
When discussing words with no vowels, there are two distinct perspectives: (1) words lacking vowel letters, and (2) words without vowel sounds. English has few vowel-less words in spelling, and there’s debate over whether any true English words lack vowel sounds entirely.
Scrabble enthusiasts and those familiar with Welsh might recognize “crwth” (pronounced “cruth”), a Welsh loanword for a violin-like instrument. Here, “w” functions as a vowel, as in “cwm” (“coom”), meaning a mountain valley. Interjections like “shhh” and “hmm” lack vowel sounds but aren’t always considered full words. Words like “nth” can claim to be vowel-less, while “myth” doesn’t qualify because “y” replaces a short “i” sound.
English is typically categorized as a language where every word must include a vowel, as each syllable, by definition, requires one. However, exceptions exist—some dialects pronounce one-syllable words like “bird” and “church” without a clear vowel sound. For example, in “bird,” the “b” transitions directly to the “r,” seemingly bypassing a vowel. This ambiguity arises from the concept of a “rhotic vowel” (symbolized as [?]), where a vowel sound before an “r” is heavily influenced by the “r.” Thus, “bird” might be interpreted as containing a very brief rhotic vowel, depending on the analysis.
