YAEPT: "year" (sorry!) (was Re: Why "y" ain't arbitrary (was: I...

In a message dated 2/6/2005 7:46:11 PM Eastern Standard Time,
fiziwig@YAHOO.COM writes:
>I don't even begin to understand why 'y' would be
>classed as anything but a vowel.
Which do you say:

"a year" or "an year"?
"a ear" or "an ear"?

If, like every English-speaker I've ever met, you say "a year", not "an
year",  then that is evidence that in your phonological system the "y" sound at the
start of "year" is a consonant.  (Because the general rule is "an" before
vowels and "a" before consonants.)
(If you say "a ear", then I suppose your 'lect works differently, and I'd ask
whether you have "an" at all.")

Doug

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