6. The longest word without vowels
Morsel:
Twyndyllyngs,
which means ‘twins’, is the longest word in English without
vowels if obsolete words are considered.
Meal:
In
English, a vowel can be summarised in three ways. Phonetically it is
the sound produced by the vibrations of the vocal cords without
audible friction, meaning that the vocal tract does not narrow and
the air escapes through the mouth and nose unimpeded. A consonant is
by comparison affected by such a stricture. Phonologically a vowel is
distinguished “from consonants in terms of how these units are used
in the structure of spoken language. For example, in the syllables
pet/pet/ [and] cat/kat/
... the syllable structure in each case consists of a central unit
[(the vowel)] and two marginals units [(the consonants)] to produce
the pattern CVC.”. The final definition is that of the five
letters which represent such a vowel sound, namely A, E, I,
O, U.
In
spoken language, the sounds
denoted by the letters L, R,
W and Y
fulfil
both the phonetic and phonological criteria,
so there is a conflict. In practice, however, L and
R are considered
'approximants', while W
and Y
are described as 'semi-vowels'.
If
we consider the
last definition of a vowel and only the full vowels, then the longest word without
vowels found in a dictionary
is 'twyndyllyngs',
the
plural of 'twyndyllyng',
with
12 letters. This word is
an obsolete
spelling
of the word 'twinling', meaning the same as 'twin'. Another
obsolete example is 'symphysy' (8
letters),
which means a “union or fusion of two bodies or parts of a body”.
More
common examples are 'rhythm' and 'syzygy' (6 letters), the latter
relating to astronomy and meaning the “conjunction or opposition of
two heavenly bodies”.
If
we now exclude semivowels, then our list of available words
dramatically decreases and we are
left
with acronyms,
like DVD and SQL,
and many words that describe certain types of exclamations. Ignoring
acronyms,
the longest word without vowels or semivowels is the verb 'tsk-tsk' (6 letters),
meaning to make “a sound expressing commiseration; an exclamation
of disapproval irritation.”.
Recipe:
Crystal,
David. 2005. How
Language Works.
OED Online. 2017. “twinling,
n.” Oxford University Press. Retrieved October 2, 2017.
OED Online. 2017. Ҡ
symphysy, n.” Oxford University Press. Retrieved October
2, 2017.
OED Online. 2017. “syzygy,
n.” Oxford University Press. Retrieved October 2, 2017.
Oxford Dictionaries. 2017. “Are
There Any English Words with No Vowels?” Oxford University
Press. Retrieved October 2, 2017.
Comments
Post a Comment