when is the letter Y treated as a vowel?

When dealing with pronounceable 4 letter .coms, the question often arises whether the letter “Y” takes on the properties of a consonant or those of a vowel.

When dealing with CVCVs, a “Y” found in the 4th position is often considered to take on the properties of a vowel and when found in the 2nd position, the role of a consonant.

When is the letter Y treated as a vowel?

Your thoughts...

Cheers
Corey

 

I basically consider "Y" to be a vowel. The only exception to this would be when it's the first letter of a word, then it's a consonant. I'm not saying there aren't exceptions to this but those are good general rules to go by.

Y almost always sounds like an E or I in words or, when silent, makes a preceding vowel sound like a long version of that vowel.

I would say Y is a consonant in yellow, yes, yonder, yesterday, etc - the Y has a definite sound/pronunciation to it and it's relationship to the second and third letters indicates it's a consonant and not a vowel.