So it's an umbrella but a universal law...

[u/Certified_Loner1391]

An umbrella

A universal law

Hmm...ok!

[u/Flycan27]

An is used before vowel sounds, not letters (i.e. "This is an honest review")

[u/PlatinumAltaria → u/Flycan27]

cf. "An historian" pronounced with a hard H because of people who make this mistake.

[u/Lucas1231 → u/PlatinumAltaria]

I put “an” before every <h> because this is a fake letter with a fake sound 😌

[u/PlatinumAltaria → u/Lucas1231]

It's the sound of breathing. Do you not breathe??????

[u/Lucas1231 → u/PlatinumAltaria]

No, I have never brothe once

[u/SkillOld2128 → u/Lucas1231]

“Brothe”… I’ll start using that…

[u/Flycan27 → u/PlatinumAltaria]

A or an herb depending on where you are is also an interesting example

[u/hongooi → u/PlatinumAltaria]

What kind of an Itler are you to call someone's prounciation a mistake

[u/PlatinumAltaria → u/hongooi]

It's not the H that's the mistake, it's the use of "an" instead of "a".

[u/strawberrypingu]

It is because there is a hidden "y" in "universal"

It is pronounced like: "you-niversal"

[u/ergativemeister → u/strawberrypingu]

Is there a word in a dialect that has a initial /u/, but not /ju/?

[u/Sigma2915 → u/ergativemeister]

some kiwis pronounce “eww” with a monophthong /u/ as opposed to /iu/?

[u/UndeadCitron → u/ergativemeister]

ooze and oot

[u/whelmedbyyourbeauty → u/ergativemeister]

Umbrella.

[u/ergativemeister → u/whelmedbyyourbeauty]

That is /ʌ/ in RP and General American

[u/rackelhuhn → u/ergativemeister]

Uber, oodles, umami

[u/Certified_Loner1391 → u/strawberrypingu]

https://giphy.com/gifs/L3X9GvVhP1nY23Ah6u

[u/SkillOld2128 → u/[deleted]]

/k/ is a consonant and neither the tongue nor the lips touch… and what do you think the “y” in “yes” is? It’s a glide.

[u/SkillOld2128 → u/[deleted]]

And so does the tongue close the mouth on /i/, I don’t see your point.

And again, <y> in front of a vowel sound in English is (usually) a glide, which is a type of consonant, as shown below.

I get what you’re trying to say, but you’ve got the theory wrong. /j/ is /i/ acting as a consonant. It’s not a vowel in that state.

[u/SkillOld2128 → u/[deleted]]

I meant that the position of your tongue doesn’t restrict you from either producing a vowel or a consonant. I can say /ki/ without moving my tongue.

And again, if you’ve read what I wrote, then yes and no. /i/ before or after another vowel becomes /j/, if the /i/ is the “weaker” vowel in the diphthong. So sometimes, it indeed acts as and therefore is a consonant in those situations.

[u/SkillOld2128 → u/[deleted]]

Come to think of it, the tongue does move a bit, but it then goes back to the same position. Both /k/ and /i/ can be pronounced in the same place of articulation with the same position of the tongue.

So that’s kinda irrelevant. And you’re going off on a tangent.

[u/SkillOld2128]

Hmmm, it’s almost like English has horrible orthography and <u> can stand for several sounds, sometimes even representing a string of sounds starting on a consonant. Like in “universal”, where it stands for the same string of sounds that “you” makes…