User talk:Bufflette

What this article does not deliver is the progressive use of the term 'vocoid'. Narrowing the definiton of "vowel" should be fundamental to this article. From a phonetic point of view vowels are articulated with a relatively open configuration of the vocal tract - there is no audible friction. A vocoid is defined as a central oral resonant(Pike). It's central because it cannot be a lateral sound, like [l]; oral because air passes through the oral cavity; and resonant because there is no constriction, so all the sound comes from the resonances in the oral tract resulting from the vibration of the vocal cords. Everything which is not a vocoid is a contoid. Thus, [j] is a vocoid, [i] is a vocoid, [a] is a vocoid, [w] is a vocoid, but [l] is not; it is a contoid, as are [p], [b], etc. Additionally, we see the use of the phoneme [j] come into play when deliberating 'Y' as a vowel or consonant.

Generally, vowels are syllabic vocoids. Thus, of the vocoids above, [i] and [a] could be vowels, but [j] and [w] would not, as they are never syllabic.

The distinction between vocoids and vowels is not made in this article and assumes vowel to cover the specific denotation of vocoid. Bufflette 22:50, 29 August 2007 (UTC)