Strong vowels and weak vowels

In Spanish we divide vowels into two groups: strong vowels (also called open) and weak vowels (also known as closed vowels). Each of these groups is opposed by distinctive features such as, for example, the opening or not opening of the mouth at the time of pronouncing each of the five vowels that Spanish has. The classification into strong and weak vowels is essential to be able to count how many syllables each word has as well as to better understand how the stress rules work.

It is very important to know and know how to differentiate perfectly which are the strong vowels and which are the weak vowels Because this way, in addition to having more facilities when it comes to graphically accentuating words, we can also establish earlier and better which are the diphthongs, the hiatuses or the triphthongs. Keep reading this article by a TEACHER to see some examples!

The strong or open vowels are the following: A, E, O. These three vowels receive this name because to pronounce them it is necessary to open the oral cavity a lot, compared to other sounds, such as their opposite, weak vowels.

On the other hand, strong or open vowels as such are the only ones that can function as a syllabic nucleus, since the greatest blow of the voice falls on them while, for the On the contrary, the weak or closed vowels depend on the position they occupy within the syllable, they can give rise to the formation of a diphthong or a hiatus depending on whether they act as a nucleus syllabic or not.

Remember that a diphthong is the combination of:

• a) strong vowel (A, E, O) + weak vowel (I, U)
• b) weak vowel (I, U) + weak vowel (I, U), like the following examples "air", "take care", "also"

The tripthong is the combination of three vowels, which are one strong (a, e, o) and two weak (i, u). This is the rarest of the three possible vowel combinations in Spanish but we can, nevertheless, find a few examples, such as different verb forms of the second person plural of the simple conditional "you would eat", "you would sing", "you would dance" or words like "ox".

And the hiatus is the break of the diphthong, when two strong vowels (a, e, o) or a strong vowel (a, e, o) and a weak vowel (i, u) taking the latter the accent or blow of voice, so that the possible diphthong ("air") is broken. In this way, in cases like this, we must write the accent on the weak vowel ("ear") in order to respect the rules of accentuation of Spanish.

Contrary to the previous ones, weak or closed vowels do not require a maximum degree of mouth opening to be able to pronounce them correctly but, on the contrary, with a minimum opening of the mouth, we are perfectly capable of pronouncing them.

These weak or closed vowels are the I and the U. If we think about it carefully and look for a second, when pronouncing both vowels, the mouth opening is practically minimal or non-existent, while if we pronounce other open vowels, the position of the lips changes completely and the mouth expands, enlarging the opening Of the same.

Also, it is important to note that the letter Y can also function as a vowel I when it has, like this one, an eminently vowel sound. In this case, said letter can also be part of a tripthong, usually placed at the end of the syllable, to close it.