Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2021 October 9

= October 9 =

Are there any words in English where W is pronounced as a consonant at end of word?
Are there any words in English where word-final W is pronounced as /w/, not /u/? --40bus (talk) 18:11, 9 October 2021 (UTC)


 * Some phonemic analyses would say that words such as "wow", "how", "now" etc. end in a /w/ phoneme. If you exclude that, then a [w] sound doesn't occur at the end of English words... AnonMoos (talk) 21:19, 9 October 2021 (UTC)


 * It can do in some cases of L-vocalization. AndrewWTaylor (talk)


 * But that would be spelled with the letter "L", not with the letter "W" specified by the original questioner. AnonMoos (talk) 19:09, 10 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Agreed, but I was replying to the assertion that "a [w] sound doesn't occur at the end of English words". AndrewWTaylor (talk) 11:07, 11 October 2021 (UTC)

In short, yes, plenty. Bow, Cow, How, Low, Now, Row, Vow, Wow etc etc etc. The Rambling Man (Keep wearing the mask...) 11:17, 11 October 2021 (UTC)


 * No, none of thse has W pronounced as a consonant (except the first W in "Wow", of course). --184.144.99.72 (talk) 07:52, 12 October 2021 (UTC)


 * It depends where you're from - see this comparison for pronunciation of "now" in UK and US english. Mikenorton (talk) 10:36, 12 October 2021 (UTC)


 * Indeed. I think people who aren't actually English probably shouldn't be trying to answer these questions.  The Rambling Man (Keep wearing the mask...) 20:32, 12 October 2021 (UTC)