White Flag -- "rythm", no vowel in

[Jonathan Lighter]

In Welsh, "w" is a full vowel that sounds rather like the "oo" in "cool."

There are a couple of Welsh words with a "w'" vowel that appear rarely in
English, the most common being "cwm,"  'a hollow or natural amphitheater.'
 Rhymes with "boom."

I can't think of a second one.  But the Welsh village of Cwmbran appears in
English-language writings spelled just that way.

Obviously the "y" in "rhythm" is a vowel.  Also in "really."  In "yellow"
it isn't.

JL

On Mon, Mar 19, 2012 at 6:01 PM, Larry Sheldon <LarrySheldon at cox.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Larry Sheldon <LarrySheldon at COX.NET>
> Organization: Maybe tomorrow
> Subject:      White Flag  -- "rythm", no vowel in
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I am really going to have to show my ignorance now.
>
> When I was little, the officially sanctioned vowels were "AEIOU and
> sometimes W and Y".
>
> All theses years since I have (when four-leaf clovers are plentiful)
> searched for an occurrence of an English "w" making what seems to me to
> be a vowel sound (what ever THAT turns out to mean), and one of "y" that
> does not.
>
> (For me, a "vowel sound" is one that allows me to pronounce successive
> sharp-edged consonants.)
>
> Would somebody pleas point me to an example of each?
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