I literally love this video so much, this is so out of nowhere and random and I don’t know why this appeared on my for you page. Thank you for blessing me with this vowel slander
This is only scratching the surface of how controversial vowels are. I'll add a few points. 1) the ə/upside down v distinction in English is really only made in a few accents, most notably in southern England, hence why it should be considered completely outdated to not always use ə for AE. But most literature still does it. 2) arguably, the way different vowel symbols are spread across the default chart isn't even good. First off, with modern technology (analysis of the highest frequences in a vowel), we've come up with a much more rounded looking shape to order vowels in; then, there is the F3-dimension to consider, which also differs wildly across languages. And if you actually look at the distinctions different languages make, most of them are divided in very different ways. I get that the chart is just an approximatio, but for what? Certainly not for averages when most five-vowel systems have an e- or o quality much lower than on the chart, and essentially all rounded front and unrounded back vowels always occurr much more centralised than their counterparts. All of this is more a rant about standard IPA notation than anything though. 3) vowels are most vulnerable to spelling pronunciation for obvious reasons. Especially in English, sometimes French (for learners especially), German (which i happen to speak natively and can tell you it's really common to confuse short/long vowel quality distinctions) and then many poorly romanised languages; there are barely any vowel characters to express so many different sounds with. For consonants, you generally get 1, rarely 2-3, possible sounds for a consonant. With vowels, it's up to 8-ish with some in English, generally 1-4 in German etc. And since stress isn't marked in these languages, reading words aloud based on any other combinations of these sounds is a natural consequence of this stupidly Latin-dependent system. Those were just some of my points. Feel free to add some!
Re. confusing short and long vowels, I don't know your experience is like as a native German-speaker, but as an English-speaker (that is, English English) phonemic vowel length feels very much like the primary distinction more than sound. There are three classes of vowels to me: short ones (instantaneous, "stabby", can't be extended), long monophthongs and long diphthongs. And only once I know the category will I decide which particular vowel it is by the sound. So there might be a possibility to mistake /a/ for /ɛ/ if I think I hear a short vowel.* But if I think I hear a long vowel, I'm never going to get confused between /ɑ:/ and /a/, because /a/ is a short vowel. There would be much more chance of confusion between /ɑ:/ and another long vowel, like /o:/ or /ə:/, even if the sound quality is "further away" on the vowel chart. * Like for instance when listening to Americans with very high /a/ vowels, up towards /ɛ/, or Germans who seemed to decide as a nation that "a" must become "e" in English words (or rather ä in German) which sometimes makes understending very bed, and also in loan words like Handy, which is actually pronounced Händy.
Curiously, as a native speaker of American English, I actually feel that vowel length really doesn't matter at all, at least how I speak it (I distinguish no vowel length in my English speech) As a 5 or 6-year-old, I was taught "long and short vowels" in school, which are really completely different phonemes: a: [eɪ]/[æ], e: [i]/[ɛ], i: [aɪ]/[ɪ], o: [oʊ]/[ɑ] (merged with [ɒ] and [ɔ], seems to be originally meant to be the latter), u: [(j)ᶷu], [ə] (merged with [ʌ], similar circumstance to short o)
i think its cause germanic languages with their dozens of vowel variations are being translated into latin script with 5 vowel variations so english speakers have a hard time distinguishing them.
I agree with the video, except on one point: the schwa and the upside v are just two different sounds. People just often use them incorrectly. That's not the vowels' fault.
this I can definitely agree with, many problems I may have with vowels are *really* problems I have with the humans who use them (and who try to transcribe them)
I also hate vowels. Like I have no problem with most consonants and I find the logical, but vowels... How can you trust a free vibration of the vocal chords with your mouth wide open, while still articulating in the same spots used for consonants?
In most cases, if both symbols are used contrastingly, æ will be used for a somewhat higher vowel than a, but the exact quality they represent in broad transcription will be different depending on the language and dialect being transcribed!
I'm an USAn (Great Lakes) and for me /æ/ to /æə/ is the TRAP vowel and /ä/ is both the "German A" in spA, tAco, or plAza AND the LOT vowel. /a/ is a thing my dialect doesn't have that's in between. It's like a in French. Not â in Quebec French, which is /ɑ/ like a Canadian, New York, or British LOT vowel.
@@resting_soul i i i' ea, i a ai a oe. Ao, o aae o e ue oa iu i' ue o ee ay ooa. (if it isn't clear, i was making a joke.) (Also, rock language from the cursed Conlang circus didn't use or need any consonants.)
This video is sponsored by the Nuxalk language
I hadn't heard of this language before, but wow, [xɬpʼχʷɬtʰɬpʰɬːskʷʰt͡sʼ] is beautiful
I read "Why I don't trust towels" and was genuinely confused
Don't panic.
@@synkkamaan1331 love the reference
I like how towel trust is more confusing than vowel trust.
This is so niche I love it
looks like The Algorithm™ is doing its job right!
Vowels are clearly the honey badgers of letters. They just do whatever the hell they want and the other letters pick up the scraps.
hmm... I don't think this properly represents the danger of honey badgers; I mean, I would be much more scared to be locked in a room with a vowel
This channel’s content seems to be specifically tailored to my interests and sense of humor
oh, you didnt know? we are the same person.
Consonants are fine, but i don't trust vowels and neither sould you!
*IRISH:*
let's all just start beatboxing
This video had such a raw title I knew I had to watch it
as a linguistics major, i love that this is the april fools day video i get recommended
I literally love this video so much, this is so out of nowhere and random and I don’t know why this appeared on my for you page. Thank you for blessing me with this vowel slander
I don't trust vowels.
In the context of etymology, phonetic evolution and trying to guess what word is cognate with what other.
You're gonna love abjads
This is only scratching the surface of how controversial vowels are. I'll add a few points.
1) the ə/upside down v distinction in English is really only made in a few accents, most notably in southern England, hence why it should be considered completely outdated to not always use ə for AE. But most literature still does it.
2) arguably, the way different vowel symbols are spread across the default chart isn't even good. First off, with modern technology (analysis of the highest frequences in a vowel), we've come up with a much more rounded looking shape to order vowels in; then, there is the F3-dimension to consider, which also differs wildly across languages. And if you actually look at the distinctions different languages make, most of them are divided in very different ways. I get that the chart is just an approximatio, but for what? Certainly not for averages when most five-vowel systems have an e- or o quality much lower than on the chart, and essentially all rounded front and unrounded back vowels always occurr much more centralised than their counterparts. All of this is more a rant about standard IPA notation than anything though.
3) vowels are most vulnerable to spelling pronunciation for obvious reasons. Especially in English, sometimes French (for learners especially), German (which i happen to speak natively and can tell you it's really common to confuse short/long vowel quality distinctions) and then many poorly romanised languages; there are barely any vowel characters to express so many different sounds with. For consonants, you generally get 1, rarely 2-3, possible sounds for a consonant. With vowels, it's up to 8-ish with some in English, generally 1-4 in German etc. And since stress isn't marked in these languages, reading words aloud based on any other combinations of these sounds is a natural consequence of this stupidly Latin-dependent system.
Those were just some of my points. Feel free to add some!
Re. confusing short and long vowels, I don't know your experience is like as a native German-speaker, but as an English-speaker (that is, English English) phonemic vowel length feels very much like the primary distinction more than sound. There are three classes of vowels to me: short ones (instantaneous, "stabby", can't be extended), long monophthongs and long diphthongs. And only once I know the category will I decide which particular vowel it is by the sound. So there might be a possibility to mistake /a/ for /ɛ/ if I think I hear a short vowel.* But if I think I hear a long vowel, I'm never going to get confused between /ɑ:/ and /a/, because /a/ is a short vowel. There would be much more chance of confusion between /ɑ:/ and another long vowel, like /o:/ or /ə:/, even if the sound quality is "further away" on the vowel chart.
* Like for instance when listening to Americans with very high /a/ vowels, up towards /ɛ/, or Germans who seemed to decide as a nation that "a" must become "e" in English words (or rather ä in German) which sometimes makes understending very bed, and also in loan words like Handy, which is actually pronounced Händy.
Curiously, as a native speaker of American English, I actually feel that vowel length really doesn't matter at all, at least how I speak it (I distinguish no vowel length in my English speech)
As a 5 or 6-year-old, I was taught "long and short vowels" in school, which are really completely different phonemes:
a: [eɪ]/[æ], e: [i]/[ɛ], i: [aɪ]/[ɪ], o: [oʊ]/[ɑ] (merged with [ɒ] and [ɔ], seems to be originally meant to be the latter), u: [(j)ᶷu], [ə] (merged with [ʌ], similar circumstance to short o)
Very attractive video title and thumnail. I needed to click
I o u owe,eau ey a u eeyi.
(I dont trust vowels because they make up everything)
Plenty of languages get by with a minimum of vowels. A string of thirteen consonants as a sentence, for example
Could you tell me the example? The longest i know of is the czech phrase "Strč prst skrz krk".
@@explanne check the Georgian entry in Wikipedia
Gvprtskvni!
i think its cause germanic languages with their dozens of vowel variations are being translated into latin script with 5 vowel variations so english speakers have a hard time distinguishing them.
Jn th mvmnt.
#syntvwls
Smhw cn rd ths cmmnt wtht th nd fr vwls. M mprssd nd wll nw jn th mvmnt
ðis is vouuelcism, if the vouuel is in a good learning enviroment ðey turn out fine, its not about being a vouuel, its about good education
Me: "JUST SPEAK CROW!"
Contex: I am able to make crow sounds
I agree with the video, except on one point: the schwa and the upside v are just two different sounds. People just often use them incorrectly. That's not the vowels' fault.
this I can definitely agree with, many problems I may have with vowels are *really* problems I have with the humans who use them (and who try to transcribe them)
I also hate vowels. Like I have no problem with most consonants and I find the logical, but vowels... How can you trust a free vibration of the vocal chords with your mouth wide open, while still articulating in the same spots used for consonants?
THIS HAS BEEN EXACTLY WHAT I'VE BEEN WANTING TO SAY FOR SO LONG!
I, being a Spaniard who couldn't pronounce or even identify vowels ar all but /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/ and /u/ to save his life, am inclined to agree.
1:22 that's an English thing, in Spanish it's the complete opposite.
"Turns into an upside down v".
Spoken like a true American.
We don't have /ʌ/ in America. The vowels in "above" are both schwa.
every american vowel is a schwa
I hate vowels and I thought I was the only one!!
Welcome to the resistance.
Hidden Gem
i got jumpscared by the title but w video
IKK THEYRE THE WORST
Maybe I’m an idiot but can someone plz tell me the difference between /a/ and /æ/
In most cases, if both symbols are used contrastingly, æ will be used for a somewhat higher vowel than a, but the exact quality they represent in broad transcription will be different depending on the language and dialect being transcribed!
/æ/ is /a/ but ENGLISH™
I'm an USAn (Great Lakes) and for me /æ/ to /æə/ is the TRAP vowel and /ä/ is both the "German A" in spA, tAco, or plAza AND the LOT vowel.
/a/ is a thing my dialect doesn't have that's in between. It's like a in French. Not â in Quebec French, which is /ɑ/ like a Canadian, New York, or British LOT vowel.
æ is the noise you make when you realize there's an a behind you about to do something horrible to you
1:56 what is this phone number actually?
/ɛə̯/
wll k, bt wh?
ʌ and ɐ are only attempting to copy ə. ə never did anything wrong
ngl wvls r knd crng
ls, sn't t wrd hw y cn jst ndrstnd mst txts wtht wvls?
yh, t tks sm tm, bt t's ttl dbl
T's vn sr n lnggs whch r lss nfstd wth vwls thn Nglsh - lk, nrml lngg cn wrk jst fn wth 5-8 vwls, nt bt 15 r whtvr nmbr Nglsh hs. Tht's wh wrtng sstms lk Hbrw r Rbc xst wtht mrkng vwls.
ou ae e iie eo i'e ee e
(you are the cringiest person i've ever met)
@@interbeamproductions thnk y, tht's qt bld sttmnt (... _r_ y'v jst nvr bn n th ntrnt lk, vr)
@@resting_soul ao, a' a oe?
(also, what's a wovel?)
@@resting_soul i i i' ea, i a ai a oe.
Ao, o aae o e ue oa iu i' ue o ee ay ooa.
(if it isn't clear, i was making a joke.)
(Also, rock language from the cursed Conlang circus didn't use or need any consonants.)
just stop using schwa smh
it's not that hard