# vowel cluster in pronunciation



## kusurija

Hi, all!
There were similar post with long string of consonants. I thing, that with vowels the string won't be as long as with consonants.
In Japanese: 青い葵[aoi aoi] blue hollyhock
蒼い、碧い 、[aoi]: ~synonnyms for 青い[aoi]
or in Latin: Acocanthera ouabaio:
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/eclectic/usdisp/acocanthera.html

I hope someone other finds longer strings with vowels.


----------



## Outsider

For Portuguese, there's a nice discussion at Ruud Harmsen's website. See Note 16c: Vowel Runs. A short quote:



> There are triphthongs, tetraphthongs, pentaphthongs, hexaphthongs, heptaphthongs, and even octophthongs.
> 
> These combinations require complicated tongue movements, that aren't easy to master for the non-native speaker.


----------



## Dr. Quizá

There are some rural dialects of Spanish in which almost no consonant is pronounced, but I don't think we have notable clusters of vowels in standard nor written Spanish.


----------



## Cosol

In Italian we use _aiuola_ as example of word with many vowels, but actually some of this are spoken as _Semivowel_...


----------



## robbie_SWE

In Romania we have a word that only consists of vowels: *oaie *(sheep). 

 robbie


----------



## Outsider

All languages: words consisting of vowels only.


----------



## Hakro

In *Finnish* we have a compound word that has not less that 12 successive vowels:

*riiuuyöaieoionta*

It can be translated as "straightening the intentions of a dating night". It's a made-up word, of course, but it's composed according to the rules of Finnish grammar. Only the word "riiuu" (dating) is a bit archaic. The other parts "yö" (night), "aie" (intention) and "oionta" (straightening) are in everyday use.

(By the way, "y" is pronounced in Finnish like "ü" in German or "u" in French, it's a real vowel.)


----------



## Outsider

Hakro said:


> In *Finnish* we have a compound word that has not less that 12 successive vowels


12 written vowels, but the double ones stand for long sounds, right? They are not pronounced as two.


----------



## MarX

New Zealand in *Maori* is called *Aotearoa*.

I reckon some *Pacific languages* have many words that consist of only vowels. I can't remember which, though.


----------



## Hakro

Outsider said:


> 12 written vowels, but the double ones stand for long sounds, right? They are not pronounced as two.


Right!


----------



## Nanon

Examples of French words with vowels only were already provided by Outsider. But long chains with no consonants or practically none can easily produced in French. It is a nice constraint to play with, especially if you try to exclude semi-vowels. Sentences do not necessarily make much sense, though.

Et en haut, on hait et on hue : "ohé ! à eux !"... etc... (all consonants are mute, though _h aspiré_ can be discussed)
I am sure longer strings can be formed with a drop of inspiration.


----------



## kusurija

Great. Thanks to all, who posted or will post. I don't know, how to look to aspirated konsonants in languages, which uses latin letters. In any case, all is really great...


----------



## raptor

(Related to http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1088959)

Does anyone know of (in any language) words with three or more consecutive vowel sounds? These aren't vowel sounds that are extended, as créée et édité, but consecutive, distinct (and different) vowel sounds. There can be the same vowel sound twice in the sequence. Stops inbetween would reject a potential candidate.

For example, the word 'doing' is pronounced d-oo-i-ng (/duIŋ/ if I have the IPA correct). Skiing is /skiIŋ/, power is /paʊɝ/, Spanish mío is /mio/, roen is /ɹoεn/, and haya is /ʌIʌ/.

(For this excercise I'll ignore the y after long vowels and w after owh and aow.)

Thanks!

raptor


----------



## Outsider

See this thread.



raptor said:


> For example, the word 'doing' is pronounced d-oo-i-ng (/duIŋ/ if I have the IPA correct). Skiing is /skiIŋ/, power is /paʊɝ/, Spanish mío is /mio/, roen is /ɹoεn/, and haya is /ʌIʌ/.


Actually, Spanish _roen_ is [ˈro.en], and _haya_ is [ˈa.ʝa].


----------



## raptor

Thanks Outsider 



			
				Hakro said:
			
		

> In *Finnish* we have a compound word that has not less that 12 successive vowels:
> 
> *riiuuyöaieoionta*


 
Would this be pronounced /riuIjaIæIɔɪɔntæ/ (as per http://www.acapela-group.com/text-to-speech-interactive-demo.html)?


----------



## sokol

Austrian German dialects are quite rich on vowel strings, and this goes especially for dialects from Styria and Southern Burgenland where the vowels /e o/ of other Austrian dialects are pronounced as diphtongs /ei ou/ in many cases, therefore strings of vowels are even lenghtened in those dialects.

The most infamous example is:

*Leoben* (town in Upper Styria), *Styrian dialect* is said to include "all five vowels" (which is nonsense in itself as most Austrian dialects have at least 9 vowels and many have 13 or even more) = /a e i o u/ and that even in the "correct order":
/laeioum/ - correct IPA would be [læe̯jɔu̯m̩]


----------



## TarisWerewolf

raptor said:


> Would this be pronounced /riuIjaIæIɔɪɔntæ/ (as per http://www.acapela-group.com/text-to-speech-interactive-demo.html)?



Actually, it's more like /riːuːyøajeojonta/ althought the two /j/'s may be more like non-syllabic (or syllabic) i's.


----------



## Encolpius

*Hungarian*

There's a word I learned at school, with 5 vowels.

*fiaiéi *(it means belonging to his sons, the basic word is fiú)


----------



## Hakro

> Originally Posted by *raptor*
> Would this be pronounced /riuIjaIæIɔɪɔntæ/ (as per http://www.acapela-group.com/text-to...tive-demo.html)?


I'm afraid that your IPA-text is not correct but I don't know how to write it better.

The pronunciation of Acapela is quite close but there is a mistake, due to incorrect division of this compound word (riiuu-yö-aie-oionta). If you cut the word in two parts "riiuuyöaie oionta" you can hear the proper pronunciation.


----------



## raptor

Thanks TarisWerewolf!

Encolpius, do you know how to pronounce that? The website I gave can't pronounce Hungarian 

The project I'm working on deals with the sounds of the letters/words rather than the letters themselves, so IPA would be best.

Thanks!


----------



## Encolpius

raptor said:


> ... Encolpius, do you know how to pronounce that? The website I gave can't pronounce Hungarian



Of course I know! 

fiaiéi [IPA: fijɒjije:ji]


----------



## Hilde

The longes vowel cluster in norwegian, as far as I know, is: 

Saueøyeeier (owner of a sheeps eye)
or even saueøyeeieansvar (the responsibility of owning a sheeps eye)


----------



## Encolpius

Oh, Hilde! Are there any sheep in Norway at all? Not to mention some traditions related to sheep eye collecting. I think this is not a real word.


----------



## Hilde

Of course there are sheep!

But I dont know the exact amount of sheep eye collectors though (at least not with responsibilities)

Well, ok! I guess "saueøye" (6) will do


----------



## raptor

Hilde said:
			
		

> Saueøyeeier (owner of a sheeps eye)
> or even saueøyeeieansvar (the responsibility of owning a sheeps eye)


 
 It scares me to know there are words like this out there...  (/sævʌɪɛ/ or /sʌvʌɪjɛ/ ?)

@Encolpius, are those /j/'s expressly pronounced? If they are, I'll have to count them as consonants rather than a part of a vowel cluster.


----------



## Encolpius

No, they are pronounced just like the English [j] in the word higher.


----------



## raptor

Does anyone know of vowel strings in Irish or other Celtic/Gaelic languages?  I've seen that there are a lot of vowels in these words, but I don't know (and neither does acapella.com) how to pronounce them.  They are very beautiful languages, both in orthography and pronunciation


----------



## Kangy

Not many in Spanish, but once I saw this example:

_Se lo d*io a Eu*logia_
("He gave it to Eulogia")


----------



## Encolpius

[Moderator's Note: merged with a previous thread]
Hello, inspired by this consonant cluster thread I wonder if you encounter the same problem with vowel cluster we have in Hungarian. And I do not mean in spelling (b*eau*tiful) but pronunciation.

Hungarian --- fiaiéi (you can listen to the pronunciation in Forvo.com)

How about other languages?

Thanks.


----------



## ger4

One Estonian example (even though this is a compound word): _veoauto_ = truck, lorry (_veo < vedama_ = to transport) >>

Edit: This doesn't really qualify because there is just one long vowel followed by an identical long vowel in a compound but it looks quite special: _jäääär_ >>  (_jää_ = ice, _äär_ = edge) I don't know how to translate it: Wiktionary defines it as 'an edge of a stretch of ice'.


----------



## frugnaglio

Encolpius said:


> I wonder if you encounter the same problem with vowel cluster we have in Hungarian



Problem? Why do you call it a problem?

And… err… you don't have any vowel clusters in Hungarian. 
I think what qualifies as a vowel cluster is several vowels *in the same syllable*.
It happens in Italian. Two vowels in one syllable is fairly common. An example with three vowels could be:
*gorilla e antilopi* (gorillas and antelopes)
where the *a e a* can be pronounced in one syllable. Of course it's more common to say it in two syllables or to skip one vowel altogether, but it's still possible, with a quick but clear pronunciation, to say all three of them in one. I avoided using *i* or *u* in the example, since they can easily turn into [j] and [w] (consonants).

P.S. I posted this, thinking that a string of fully syllabic vowels poses no problem at all, and then realized that you're probably right. As far as I know, for example Arabic can't have two vowels in a row (not to mention five) without an intervening consonant.


----------



## ilocas2

I found this on a Czech site, I have no idea whether it's true.

Danish - A æ u å æ ø i æ å - I am on island in stream

Swedish - I öa ä e å, o i åa ä e ö - There is river on island and in river there is island


----------



## AutumnOwl

ilocas2 said:


> Swedish - I öa ä e å, o i åa ä e ö - There is river on island and in river there is island


 (it's dialectal pronunciation: I(på) ön är en å och i ån är en ö)


----------



## apmoy70

Most vowel clusters in Greek comprise three vowels ad seriatim, at the most:

*«Ἀάατος» ăáātŏs* (masc. adj.) --> _infallible_
*«Ἀάω» ăā́ō* --> _to damage_
*«Αἶα» aîă* (fem.) --> _grandmother_
*«Ἐάω» ĕā́ō* --> _to let go_
*«Εὐρυάγυια» eurŭắguiā* (fem. adj.) --> _with wide streets_
*«Ἤϊα» ḗĭă* (neut. pl.) --> _provisions for a journey_
*«ᾞα» ệă* (neut. pl.) --> _heap of husks or chaf_
*«Ἠϊών» ēĭṓn* (fem.) --> _shore_
*«Ἰαύω» ĭaúō* --> _to sleep, spend the night_
*«Ἰήϊος» ĭḗĭŏs* (masc. adj.) --> _accompanied by laments_
*«Ἰωὴ» ĭōḕ* (fem.) --> _cry, noise_
*«Οἴη» oíē* (fem) --> _elderberry tree_
*«ᾬα» ṓ̩ā* (fem.) --> _sheepsin, apron_

The examples above are Classical Greek.


----------



## ahvalj

Well, if the purpose of this thread is to provide examples in various languages, Russian has such phenomena at word and morpheme boundaries, e. g. _у Дан*ии и у Э*стонии/u Dan*ii i u E*stonii _or _н*о и у э*того/n*o i u e*togo_ etc.: all these vowels are pronounced separately, without any glides or glottal stops between them and without becoming glides themselves.

Edit: I've invented an even better example: _у Дан*ии и у Ио*рдании/u Dan*ii i u Io*rdanii,_ with 6 consequent but fully separate vowels.


Holger2014 said:


> One Estonian example (even though this is a compound word): _veoauto_ = truck, lorry (_veo < vedama_ = to transport) >>


As far as I understand, this word is trisyllabic and this sequence is pronounced as two diphthongs: _veo̯-au̯-to_. The same applies to the many orthographical vowels in Romanian.


----------



## Perseas

apmoy70 said:


> The examples above are Classical Greek.


One from Modern Greek:
αντ*ιιι*κός /and*iii*kόs/ < αντ*ιι*ός = antivirus
Three iota in a row.


----------

