More thoughts on W

I intended to post this a while ago, but never got around to it. Shortly after I posted my thoughts on W not being a vowel I noticed a lot of people venturing to my site from the site of David Black. It turns out that David Black happens to be the author of my greek text book and professor at Southeaster Baptist Seminary. I'm not sure how he found my page but nevertheless he posted a link to my page and also included a link to the wikipedia page concerning W as a vowel.

I posted similar comments over on Diercks' blog and Michelle posted a comment that helps illumine the situation.

So here is the clarifying material concerning W as a vowel from David Black and Michelle Mosher.

Dave Black directs us here.

And Michelle writes the following in the comments on Diercks' page:

so W and Y aren't really vowels, but they're not really consonants either. some linguists call them "semi-vowels" because of the way they're sort of in-between.

W is actually a lot like U (and Y is a lot like EE). So if you say "snow" with a "u" at the end instead of a "w" it'll still sound pretty similar. Try saying "snou" (with a normal "oh" sound and a normal "uu" sound.

It's easier to tell with a word like "water". Try replacing the w with u: u-ater. Now say it fast.

so yeah, W and y are kind of vowels, but not really.

So there you have two very knowledgable people helping us understand the notion that W can indeed serve as a vowel.

Maybe they have changed my opinion on the matter (yes I know this contradicts what I said in my earlier post) or maybe not. I guess I still need to think about this some more.

Hopefully some Lent thoughts will be posted soon.

I have the language skills of a third grader!

I know that I joke a lot about my poor writing skills but the other day in my Greek class I found out just how poor a grasp of the English language I have.

I don't know why, but for some reason my professor was talking about the number of vowels in English and he said something like "We all know how many vowels we have in English." I confidently thought to myself: A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y. After someone said "five" and someone else said "six" (presumably counting Y) someone from the front of the room said "seven." Five and six I can accept, but when I heard seven I began to mock the student in my mind (which I do with regularity when stupid things are said) until my professor repeated "seven" as if it was correct.

He then reminded us that "W" can serve as a vowel in the English language and the whole class except a couple of us seemed to accept it as gospel truth.

He then went on to explain that in words like "snow" the W serves as a vowel.

How on earth could I have graduated high school and college without ever hearing this? Was my education that poor? Are my Greek prof. and the rest of my class crazy?

I can sort of understand not hearing this in college, maybe they thought it was fundamental and I should have learned it in... oh I don't know...Kindergarten!! But to go through elementary school and high school and not hear this (if it is indeed true) is absurd. I even excelled in elementary school and high school, I seriously don't understand and thus I have come to this conclusion:

I don't believe it. I don't believe that "W" can serve as a vowel. I don't care how many people tell me it can, or how many English professors speak against me, right now I refuse to accept it.

I'm fine with Y, but W I will not tolerate. Am I the only one who has never heard this? I guess either way it doesn't matter because I'm just refusing to accept it. It is simply not true!

So this isn't theological and it's really not that interesting, but I had to vent somewhere and it's my blog so deal with it or else maybe I'll just refuse to accept that you exist.

Ben