Editing Vowel (section)

== Written vowels ==
{{Main|Writing system}}
The name "vowel" is often used for the symbols that represent vowel sounds in a language's [[writing system]], particularly if the language uses an [[alphabet]]. In writing systems based on the [[Latin alphabet]], the letters {{vr|a}}, {{vr|e}}, {{vr|i}}, {{vr|o}}, {{vr|u}}, {{vr|y}}, {{vr|w}} and sometimes others can all be used to represent vowels. However, not all of these letters represent the vowels in all languages that use this writing, or even consistently within one language. Some of them, especially {{vr|w}} and {{vr|y}}, are also used to represent [[approximant consonant]]s. Moreover, a vowel might be represented by a letter usually reserved for consonants, or a combination of letters, particularly where one letter represents several sounds at once, or vice versa; examples from English include {{vr|igh}} in "thigh" and {{vr|x}} in "x-ray". In addition, extensions of the Latin alphabet have such independent vowel letters as {{vr|ą}}, {{vr|ę}}, {{vr|į}}, {{vr|ǫ}}, and {{vr|ų}}.

The phonetic values vary considerably by language, and some languages use {{vr|i}} and {{vr|y}} for the consonant {{IPA|[j]}}, e.g., initial {{vr|i}} in [[Italian language|Italian]] or [[Romanian language|Romanian]] and initial {{vr|y}} in English. In the original Latin alphabet, there was no written distinction between {{vr|v}} and {{vr|u}}, and the letter represented the approximant {{IPA|[w]}} and the vowels {{IPA|[u]}} and {{IPA|[ʊ]}}. In Modern [[Welsh language|Welsh]], {{vr|w}} represents these same sounds. There is not necessarily a direct one-to-one correspondence between the vowel sounds of a language and the vowel letters. Many languages that use a form of the Latin alphabet have more vowel sounds than can be represented by the standard set of five vowel letters. In English spelling, the five letters {{vr|a}} {{vr|e}} {{vr|i}} {{vr|o}} and {{vr|u}} can represent a variety of vowel sounds, while the letter {{vr|y}} frequently represents vowels (as in e.g., "g'''y'''m", "happ'''y'''", or the diphthongs in "cr'''y'''", "th'''y'''me");<ref>In [[Wyvern|wyrm]] and [[myrrh]], there is neither a vowel letter nor, in rhotic dialects, a vowel sound.</ref> {{vr|w}} is used in representing some [[diphthong]]s (as in "co'''w'''") and to represent a [[monophthong]] in the borrowed words "{{linktext|cwm}}" and "{{linktext|crwth}}" (sometimes ''cruth'').

Other languages cope with the limitation in the number of Latin vowel letters in similar ways. Many languages make extensive use of combinations of letters to represent various sounds. Other languages use vowel letters with modifications, such as {{vr|ä}} in [[Swedish language|Swedish]], or add [[diacritic]]al marks, like [[Ogonek|ogoneks]], to vowels to represent the variety of possible vowel sounds. Some languages have also constructed additional vowel letters by modifying the standard Latin vowels in other ways, such as {{vr|æ}} or {{vr|ø}} that are found in some of the [[Scandinavian language]]s. The [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] has a set of 28 symbols representing the range of essential vowel qualities, and a further set of diacritics to denote variations from the basic vowel.

The writing systems used for some languages, such as the [[Hebrew alphabet]] and the [[Arabic alphabet]], do not ordinarily mark all the vowels, since they are frequently unnecessary in identifying a word. {{citation needed|date=October 2015}} Technically, these are called [[abjad]]s rather than alphabets. Although it is possible to construct English sentences that can be understood without written vowels (<span title="Can you read this?">''cn y rd ths?''</span>), single words in English lacking written vowels can be indistinguishable; consider ''dd'', which could be any of ''dad, dada, dado, dead, deed, did, died, diode, dodo, dud, dude, odd, add'', and ''aided''. (Abjads generally express some word-internal vowels and all word-initial and word-final vowels, whereby the ambiguity will be much reduced.) The [[Masoretes]] devised a [[niqqud|vowel notation system]] for Hebrew [[Jewish scripture]] that is still widely used, as well as the [[trope (music)|trope]] symbols used for its [[Hebrew cantillation|cantillation]]; both are part of [[Oral Torah|oral tradition]] and still the basis for many bible translations—Jewish and Christian.

===Shifts===
The differences in pronunciation of vowel letters between English and its related languages can be accounted for by the [[Great Vowel Shift]]. After printing was introduced to England, and therefore after spelling was more or less standardized, a series of dramatic changes in the pronunciation of the vowel phonemes occurred, and continued into recent centuries, but were not reflected in the spelling system. This has led to numerous inconsistencies in the spelling of English vowel sounds and the pronunciation of English vowel letters (and to the mispronunciation of foreign words and names by speakers of English).