How many vowels in Spanish?

Question

I understand that, as in English, there are 5 vowels in Spanish, but I have heard that there is a sixth one, the Y (i grega). Is this correct?

Answer 1

En español existen nada más que cinco vocales "a,e,i,o,u". tengo que decirte que la "Y" no se considera como una vocal sino como consonante, a pesar de que tenga el mismo sonido que la "i".

Lauriti - Por mi curiosidad, ¿tiene usted una fuente de referencia para esta declaración? - Moe, Nov 28, 2009

si, he estudiado bastante linguistica y además he consultado a páginas de internet - Lauriti, Dec 2, 2009

Answer 2

"Y" in English/Spanish is sometimes referred to as a "semi-vowel" (which pretty much means the same thing as "sometimes a vowel").

In English the obvious examples are the really short words in which everything but the "y" is clearly a consonant (my/by/thy/sty/fry/fly/sly/etc.) In "Ytterbium" the "y" is also a vowel.

In Spanish the most obvious example would be "y" (meaning "and"). "ay" is another (less obvious) example. Because of the consistency of Spanish pronunciation/orthography one could say "Cuando se pronuncia la i-griega como la i-latina es porque la 'ÿ' es un vocal".

Answer 3

y is a vowel in words like fly, try, tryst.... not so sure about ytterbum...

Answer 4

When I was in elementery school learning what the vowels are, it was said that they are, in English,:

a - e - i - o - u - and sometimes y.

I no longer remember those words, if any, where y was used as a vowel, in English. Maybe they meant as part of a dipthong. The only single word I could find quickly that may be a candidate is "ytterbium" and its variants and derivitives. Ytterbium. Is the "y" in ytterbium a vowel??

However in French (Yes, French. Where did that come from?) I wonder about the city called "Ypres". Is the Y a vowel or not?

So then back to Spanish which is what your question is about. Is "y" a vowel where it is part of a dipthong consisting of the letter "y" and another vowel when the pair are sounded together?

I'm not prepared to say to you, "Yes, "y" is also a vowel.". But perhaps someone whose mothertonge is Spanish could comment or reply to your question.

Answer 5

A word using y as a vowel doesn't come to mind readily. I do know that the words that would typically have a y in English use an i in Spanish.

psychology=psicología

synonym=sinónimo

In words like "rey y Henry" we pronounce those y's like i. This is what I am talking about. - dsmith70, Nov 28, 2009