Skip to main content
Back to Show
Otherwords

Is "R" a Vowel?

Season 3 Episode 2

There's a good argument that the letter R is, at least sometimes, not a consonant at all, but a vowel. Does that mean your 1st grade teacher was lying to you? Not exactly. R is an incredibly weird letter, with so many different sounds and functions, it's a wonder that we use one symbol to represent them all. And how people pronounce that one letter can speak volumes about their history and social

Support Provided By
Season
How Cult Leaders Use Language
10:58
What is the best tool for cult leaders to control other people? It’s the power of language.
Why Do Some Names Fall Out of Fashion
7:14
Headlines have sprung up all over declaring that the Southern American dialect is on its way out.
Why Do We Use Cringey Words for Loved Ones?
9:11
Why do we use such unusual words for the people we love?
Is the Southern Accent Disappearing?
7:33
Let’s dig deep and find out why certain names simply fall out of fashion.
Why Do These Words Get Mispronounced So Much?
8:32
There are many words you say incorrectly but don’t know you are saying incorrectly.
How Language Nerds Solve Crimes
8:59
Linguists use language everyday to solve crimes. Let’s take a look the most famous ones!
The Most Extreme Place Names
7:11
Join us as we find out how certain places got their names.
How the Colors Got Their Names
6:29
So how did we get those names of colors?
Why Does Texting Feel Different from Talking?
6:48
Why does switching from texting to talking feel like you’re trying to speak a different language?
What Brain Damage Reveals About Language
8:43
How do our brains process language?
How Queer Communities Created Secret Languages
6:38
What are "argots" or what some call "verbal jazz", and how is it used across the globe?
The Weird History of Invented Languages
10:07
Can you really invent a language? So how does one...do it?
Active loading indicator