Originally Posted By: Faldage
Even so, W is often said, in a non-linguistic sense, to be either a vowel or a consonant. Clearly in two it is a vowel.


maybe. it depends on how it's taught -- 'w' is called either a semi-vowel, a semi-consonant, or a glide... the sound of the 'w' in two is a back glide related to the sound 'oo' (as in boo). some will still insist that the only words (in English) where the w is a vowel are cwm and crwth (from Welsh). then again, some will now insist that the 'w' in two is (part of) a dipthong.

ymmv.

edit: I found this claim online, fwiw:
I found two word where the 'W' comes before the partner vowel. (1) geo·duck also gwe·duc (gōō'ē-dŭk') n. A very large, edible clam of the Pacific coast of northwest North America, (2) two [too]

Last edited by tsuwm; 04/24/09 03:14 PM.