Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A sound that has the quality of one of the high vowels, as (ē) or (o͞o), and that functions as a consonant before or after vowels, as the initial sounds of yell and well and the final sounds of coy and cow. Also called glide.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A half-vowel; a sound partaking of the nature of both a vowel and a consonant; an articulation lying near the line of division between vowel and consonant, and so capable of being used with either value; also, the sign representing such a sound. The name is very variously applied by different authorities; w and y are oftenest called semivowels, also
l and r, and sometimes the nasals m and n.
Wiktionary
- n. A sound in speech which has some qualities of a consonant and some qualities of a vowel
- n. A letter which represents a semivowel sound, such as w or y in English.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A sound intermediate between a vowel and a consonant, or partaking of the nature of both, as in the English
w andy . - n. The sign or letter representing such a sound.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a vowellike sound that serves as a consonant
Etymologies
- semi- + vowel (Wiktionary)
Examples
“You overlooked what I already clearly wrote: "avoidance of word-initial semivowel /j/.”
“The YA-/A- alternation in Minoan is merely a reflection of the phonotactically motivated avoidance of word-initial semivowel /j/.”
“And, Iūnō is the *Latin* name; Uni is the Etruscan which, lo and behold, avoids the word-initial semivowel /j/.”
“But continuing with the third possibility of preaspiration… on the basis of this single example, there are a number of possible explanations for the distribution, for example after vowels and semivowel.”
“And sometimes the speaker pronounces ‘yi’ with a discernible initial semivowel sound.”
“However, I notice that the initial semivowel of the triliteral *wd` is uncertain.”
“I'm not a native speaker and I don't have a dictionary to hand so there's a good chance I'm mistaken, but is the last sound of 'acceuil' and 'seuil' and 'deuil' a kind of a semivowel that has its own IPA representation?”
“A semivowel that which with such impact has an audible sound, as S and R.”
“I mean may be either a vowel, a semivowel, or a mute.”
“Associated with the vowel of each family are a diphthong and semivowel, for example e and ya with i, and all of these have lengthened forms, such as â, ai and yâ.”
Lists
‘semivowel’ hasn't been added to any lists yet.
Tweets
Looking for tweets for semivowel.
Comments
No comments yet...
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.