V (letter): Difference between revisions
imported>Ro Thorpe (→Use in English: Medvedev) |
imported>Ro Thorpe mNo edit summary |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{subpages}} | {{subpages}} | ||
'''V, v''' is a letter of the [[Latin alphabet]]. It is the twenty-second letter of most variants | '''V, v''' is a letter of the [[Latin alphabet]]. It is the twenty-second letter of most variants, being placed after [[U (letter)|U]] and before [[W (letter)|W]], as is the case for instance in the [[English alphabet]]. Its English name is pronounced [ˈviː], ''vee''. | ||
V is also the [[Roman numerals|Roman numeral]] representing the number [[5]]. | V is also the [[Roman numerals|Roman numeral]] representing the number [[5]]. | ||
Revision as of 11:24, 7 June 2009
V, v is a letter of the Latin alphabet. It is the twenty-second letter of most variants, being placed after U and before W, as is the case for instance in the English alphabet. Its English name is pronounced [ˈviː], vee.
V is also the Roman numeral representing the number 5.
The phoneme /v/ occurs in many languages, but is absent in many others; many speakers may substitute some kind of [b] or [u]. For example, Japanese makes use of both: ウイルス uirusu 'virus' and ライブ raibu 'live'.
Use in English
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Use in English | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alphabetical word list | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retroalphabetical list | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Common misspellings |
Phonetically, [v] is a labiodental fricative, partially or completely voiced, air passing between the lower lip and upper front teeth as they touch. It differs from [f] only in that the vocal folds vibrate, which does not occur for [f] (compare vîle and fîle - the accents show stress and pronunciation: see English phonemes). This is in contrast to [w], where both lips are used without touching each other or any teeth: whîle.
Examples: vúlgar, véry, vāst, háve, wâve and finally in spív, Slàv, dërv. [v] involves more friction as air passes through the mouth; for [w] the articulators organs are further apart, making the sound more vowel-like.
The letter v is rare at the end of a word, and it is most commonly found in that position pronounced [f] in Slavonic (i.e. Russian, Bulgarian, etc.) names: Rachmáninov, Prokófiev, Medvédev *Midvyédiff, Krùshchev (-chóff), Mólotov; it is also in Névsky (pronounced v) and Tchaikóvsky (usually [f]).
Being rare at the end, v hardly ever needs to be doubled, as it is in révved úp thê éngine (to avoid *rêved). v does not normally have to be doubled after a preceding short vowel (usually é): séven, cléver, héaven, éver, évery, séver, bévy, lòver, drível, cívil. But it doubles before final y to emphasise that the preceding vowel is short: chívvy, sávvy (compare chîves and nâvy). So flívver is unusual, and it rhymes with ríver.
The preceding vowel is long in: êven, fêver, hâver, fâvour, sâviour, ôver, clôver, drîver, dîver, wâver, hâven and Stêven (= the more regular spelling of Stêphen, which does not have an [f] sound).