semivowel
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sem·i·vow·el
(sĕm′ĭ-vou′əl)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.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
semivowel
(ˈsɛmɪˌvaʊəl)n
Also called (US and Canadian): glide1. (Phonetics & Phonology) a vowel-like sound that acts like a consonant, in that it serves the same function in a syllable carrying the same amount of prominence as a consonant relative to a true vowel, the nucleus of the syllable. In English and many other languages the chief semivowels are (w) in well and (j), represented as y, in yell
2. (Phonetics & Phonology) a frictionless continuant classified as one of the liquids; (l) or (r)
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
sem•i•vow•el
(ˈsɛm ɪˌvaʊ əl)n.
a speech sound of vowel quality used as a consonant, as (w) in wet or (y) in yet.
[1520–30]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Noun | 1. | semivowel - a vowellike sound that serves as a consonant speech sound, phone, sound - (phonetics) an individual sound unit of speech without concern as to whether or not it is a phoneme of some language palatal - a semivowel produced with the tongue near the palate (like the initial sound in the English word `yeast') |
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