The number of vowels in "snake"

[Rachel Adams]

Hello.


How many vowels does "snake" have? My answer was CCVCE but the book's answer is CCVC. Is the final consonant not counted?
It is from "English Pronunciation in Use" by Mark Hancock.

 

[GoesStation]

"Snake" has one vowel when it's pronounced. What do CCVCE and CCVC mean?

[EDIT] OK, that's evidently the pattern of consonants, vowels, and silent Es. I don't know the convention for including the E so I don't know the answer.

 

[Tarheel]

I am not sure I understand the question. The vowels are a, e, i, o, u.* In the word snake the final e is not pronounced. But you already know that, don't you?

_______ ____________ ________________
*And sometimes y

 

[emsr2d2]

I find their answer very bizarre. The word "snake" has five letters. Three are consonants and two are vowels. That is indisputable. It makes no difference whether each letter is pronounced when the word is spoken aloud.

If the question were "How many vowels can you hear when the word "snake" is spoken aloud?", you could argue that the answer is "One".

Also, if the question only asks how many vowels it has, why does the answer tell you how many vowels and consonants it has?

 

[Rachel Adams]

I find their answer very bizarre. The word "snake" has five letters. Three are consonants and two are vowels. That is indisputable. It makes no difference whether each letter is pronounced when the word is spoken aloud.

If the question were "How many vowels can you hear when the word "snake" is spoken aloud?", you could argue that the answer is "One".

Also, if the question only asks how many vowels it has, why does the answer tell you how many vowels and consonants it has?

I don't know. Do you agree with their answer that "rabbit" has one consonant "r" one vowel "a"one consonant, "bb", followed by "i" vowel and a consonant "t"? I noticed that it counts two consonants and vowels as one. For example, for "bee" it says CV not CVV.

 

[Skrej]

If the book is dealing with pronunciation, I wonder if the author isn't referring to syllable patterns or rules for syllable division.

However, I still don't understand your question - you ask if the final consonant isn't included, but even the book's answer includes the final consonant. The book's answer doesn't seem to include the silent 'e', but that's a vowel, not a consonant as you refer to it.

Did you mean to ask if the final vowel isn't counted?

 

[Skrej]

I don't know. Do you agree with their answer that "rabbit" has one consonant "r" one vowel "a"one consonant, "bb", followed by "i" vowel and a consonant "t"? I noticed that it counts two consonants and vowels as one. For example, for "bee" it says CV not CVV.

It definitely seems to be referring to syllables and syllable division.

The double 'ee' is one vowel sound. The division into syllables and consonants refers to the sounds, not the actual number of letters. Similarly, the two b's represent one sound.

However, to keep the two vowels short, we have to double the 'b' to keep the CVC pattern (and thus keep the vowels short) as closed syllable type. We don't pronounce doubled consonants as two separate consonant sounds, however.

Does the text not make a distinction between letters and sounds?

 

[Rover_KE]

I can't believe that the author of the book doesn't clarify how you have to answer the question.

 

[YAMATO2201]

My answer was CCVCE

snake
⇒ /sneɪk/
⇒ /s/ (C) /n/ (C) /eɪ/ (V) /k/ (C)
⇒ CCVC

rabbit
⇒ /ræbɪt/
⇒ /r/ (C) /æ/ (V) /b/ (C) /ɪ/ (V) /t/ (C)
⇒ CVCVC

bee
⇒ /biː/ [/bi/ in Longman Advanced American Dictionary]
⇒ /b/ (C) /iː/ (V)
⇒ CV

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

It has two vowels: A and E.

Just in case I'm misunderstanding the question:

- The E is silent.

- The A is a diphthong: It has two sounds, eh-ee.

 

[jutfrank]

Just to clear up this thread—the writer certainly is talking about vowels in the phonological sense. The letters a/e/i/o/u have nothing to do with this.

The word snake has 4 sounds (CCVC), together producing one syllable. (See post #11)

 

[Rachel Adams]

Just to clear up this thread—the writer certainly is talking about vowels in the phonological sense. The letters a/e/i/o/u have nothing to do with this.

The word snake has 4 sounds (CCVC), together producing one syllable. (See post #11)

It has four sounds the "ei" isn't counted separately, is it?
"S" "n" "ei" "k"

 

[Rachel Adams]

How many times do we need to say this?

Sorry if I missed that but you can definitely ask your question in a more polite way.