W’r’t ‘n ‘nt’r’ ‘rt’cl’ W’th N’ V’wls Ch’ll’ng’

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-bs-l-t- M-dn-ss?

‘s wr’t’ng ‘n ‘nt’r’ ‘rt’cl’ w’th”t v’w’ls ‘bs’l’t’ m’dn’ss? ‘f y” ‘r’ ‘ m’d’rn ‘ngl’sh r”d’r l”k’ng ‘t th’s bl’g p’st ‘rr’t’t’d ‘nd c’nf’s’d ‘s t’ h’w s’ch ‘ b’w’ld’r’ng ‘d” ‘v’n c’m’ t’ m’ m’nd, th’n ‘bs’l’t’ly! M’r’ ‘n th’s l’t’r. T’chn’c’lly, th’s wr’te-‘p ‘ts’lf w”ld cl’ss’fy ‘s ‘ bl’g p’st r’th’r th’n ‘n ‘rt’clv, b’t y” g’t the p”nt. Th’t ‘s ‘f y” h’v’ n’t cl’ck’d ‘w” ‘n fr’str’t”n ‘lr”d’. H’v’ c”r’g’? C’r”’s? K”p r”d’ng ‘nd s” h’w l’ng y” l’st.

L’ng”g’s W’th N’ V’w’ls

D’p’nd’ng ‘n h’w f’m’l”r y” ‘r’ w’th ‘th” l’ng”g’s, y” m” ‘lr”d’ kn’w th’t s’m’ l’ng”g’s ‘nc’ d’d n’t wr’t’ d’wn th”r v’wls! ‘f y”r m’th’r t’ng” h’pp’ns t’ b’ fr’m th’t ‘f th’ ‘fr’-‘s”t’c f’m’ly, y” w’ll b’ v’ry f’m’l”r w’th th’s m’tt’r. Y” s”, ‘nc”nt H’br’w, ‘nc”nt ‘g’pt”n, ‘nd ‘nc”nt ‘r’b’c d’d n’t w”t’ d’wn th”r v’w’ls. M’d’rn H’br’w d”s wr’t’ d’wn v’w’ls, b’t ‘ h”r th’t m’d’rn ‘r’b’c r’p’rt’dl’ d”s n’t ‘lw”s wr’t’ d’wn v’w’ls, d” t’ th’ ‘bj’d wr’t’ng s’st’m. ‘nt’r’st’ng ‘f tr”. ‘s f’r th’ c’se ‘f ‘g’pt”n, n’w kn’wn ‘s C’pt’c, y’s, th’y d’ wr’t’ d’wn ‘ll ‘f th”r v’w’ls. N’, th’y n’ l’ng’r ‘sv th”r m’j’st’c, b”’t’f’l h”r’glyph’cs, b’t th’ m’r’ pr’ct’c’l Gr”k ‘lph’b’t. C’pt’c ‘ls’ ‘s’s ‘ f’w s’mb’ls fr’m D’m’t’c f’r s”nds th’t th’ Gr”k ‘lph’b’t d”s n’t c’v’r. Th’r’ m’y b’ m’r’ l’ng”g’s l’k’ th’s, b’t th’s’ ‘r’ th’ ‘nl’ l’ng”g’s th’t ‘ kn’w ‘f fr’m th’ t’p ‘f m’ h”d.

‘ngl’sh W’th”t V’w’ls ‘s H’rd

Th’r’ ‘r’ v’ry f’w ‘ngl’sh w’rds w’th”t v’w’ls. Th’r’f’r’, wr’t’ng w’th”t v’w’ls ‘n ‘ngl’sh ‘s v’ry h’rd ‘nd ‘nn’t’r’l f’r ‘ngl’sh ‘s’rs. Th’t s”d, ‘t ‘s n’t ‘mp’ss’bl’ th’nks t’ th’ f’ct th’t ‘ngl’sh d”s n’t h’v’ l’ngth’ c’nj’g’t”ns, n’r ‘s ‘t ‘ggl’t’n’t’v’. C’n y” ‘m’g’n’ l’ng”g’s l’k’ L’t’n? L’t’n ‘n  h”v’l’ ‘nfl’ct’d l’ng”g’ ‘nd h’s pl’nt’ ‘f v’w’ls. R”d’ng L’t’n wr’tt’n w’th”t v’w’ls ‘s s”d t’ b’ v’rt”ll’ ‘mp’ss’bl’! ‘ c’n ‘m’g’n’ th’ s’m’ b”ng tr” f’r ‘th’r v’w’l-r’ch l’ng”g’s l’k’ ‘t’l”n, ‘ m’d’rn R’m’nc’ l’ng”g’ th’t ‘lm’st ‘lw’ys ‘nds ‘n v’w’ls. 

”s’ F’r S’n’-T’b’t’c L’ng”g’s

S’n’-T’b’t’c l’ng”g’s th’t ‘s’ H’nz’ f’r th’ wr’t’ng s’st’m w”ld p’ss th’ ” N’ V’w’ls Ch’ll’ng’ ” w’th fl”ng c’l”rs. Wh’? B’c”s’ th’y d’ n’t ‘v’n h’v’ ‘n ‘lph’b’t! H’nz’ ‘r’ l’g’gr’ms, m”n’ng th’t th’y ‘r’ s’mb’ls th’t r’pr’s’nt w’rds ‘nd s”nds. ‘v’n th”gh J’p’n’s’ ‘ls’ ‘s’s H’nz’, c’ll’d K’nj’ ‘n th”r n’t’v’ l’ng”g’, J’p’n’s’ w”ld f’c’ s’gn’f’c’nt d’ff’c’lt’ w’th th’s ch’ll’ng’ f’r 2 r”s’ns: 1. ‘t ‘s h’ghl’ ‘ggl’t’n’t’v’. 2. Th’ J’p’n’s’ s’ll’b’r”s, K’t’k’n’ ‘nd H’r’g’n’ ‘r’ 99% d’p’nd’nt ‘n v’w’ls. Th’ ‘nl’ K’n’ th’t d”s n’t ‘nd ‘n ‘ v’w’l ‘s th”r “N” s”nd. ‘nd b’c”s’ K’n’ ‘s ‘xt’ns’v’l’ ‘s’d t’ r’pr’s’nt gr’mm’t’c’l p’rt’cl’s, s’m’ w’rds, ‘nd c’nj’g’t’vns, m’d’rn J’p’n’s’ c’nn’t t’k’ ‘n th’s ch’ll’ng’. K” w’rd: m’d’rn J’p’n’s’. ‘t ‘n’ p”nt, J’p’n’s’ w’s wr’tt’n ‘nt’r’l’ ‘n H’nz’. ‘f ‘ J’p’n’s’ p’rs’n h’pp’ns t’ kn’w h’w t’ wr’t’ ‘n th’s ‘nc’vnt K’n’-fr” st’l’, ‘nl’ th’n w”ld th’y b’ ‘bl’ t’ p’ss th’s t’st ”s’l’.

Wh’ Th”gh?

Wh’ n’t? C’rt”nl’, th’t w”ld n’t b’ ‘ s’t’sf”ng ‘nsw’r. Th’ r”l r”s’n wh’ ‘ f’n’ll’ d’c’d’d t’ th’s, ‘s b’c”s’ ‘ w’nt’d t’ s” wh’t ‘t w”ld b’ l’k’ t’ wr’t’ ‘n ‘nt’r’ p’st w’th”t v’w’ls. S’m’t’m’ ‘g’, wh’n ‘ w’s r’s”rch’ng ‘nc”nt l’ng”g’s f’r f’n, ‘ l”rn’d th’t s’m’ ‘nc”nt l’ng”g’s, m”nl’ ‘fr’-‘s”t’c, d’d n’t wr’t’ v’w’ls. ‘ f”nd th’t b’th ‘nt’r’st’ng ‘nd cr’z’ ‘t th’ s’m’ t’m’. Th’n ‘n’ d”, ‘ d’c’d’d t’ ‘tt’mpt th’s w’th th’ l’ng”g’ ‘ kn’w: ‘ngl’sh. B’f’r’ ‘ st’rt’d th’s bl’g p’st, ‘ w’s c’nfl’ct’d ‘n r’g’rds t’ h’w ‘ w”ld g’ ‘b”t w’th m’rk’ng th’ m’ss’ng v’w’ls. ‘ ‘n’t”ll’ th”ght ‘f f’ll’ng th’ ‘mpt’ v’w’l sp’c’s w’th qu’st”n m’rks l’k’ th’s f’r ‘x’mpl’: V?w?s r?pl?c?d w?th qu?st??n m?rks. ‘ th”ght th’t th’ us’ ‘f qu’st”n m’rks w”ld m’ke r”d’ng ‘v’n m’r’ d’ff’c’lt th’n ‘t ‘lr”d’ ‘s w’th th’ l’ss ‘f wr’tt’n v’w’ls. ‘ ‘ls’ c’ns’d’r’d j’st l”v’ng n’th’ng ‘t ‘ll, b’t q”ckl’ r”l’z’d th’t ‘t w”ld b’ ‘v’n w’rs’. ‘ f’n’ll’ d’c’d’d t’ r’pl’c’ th’ m’ss’ng v’w’ls w’th ‘p’str’ph’s. ‘nt’r’st’ngl’, wh’l’ ‘n ‘p’str’ph’ ‘s n’rm’ll’ ‘s’d t’ gr’mm’t’c’ll’ m’rk ‘ p’ss’ss”n ‘r m’k’ ‘ pl’r’l n’mb’r, ‘t c’n ‘pp’r’ntl’ ‘ls’ ‘nd’c’t’ th’ ‘m’ss”n ‘f 1 ‘r m’r’ l’tt’rs. ‘ d’d n’t kn’w th’t ‘nt’l t’d”! M’k’s ‘v’n m’r’ s’ns’ th’t ‘ d’c’d’d t’ ‘s’ ‘t f’r v’w’l ‘m’ss”n ‘n th’s ‘rt’cl’.

‘n’m’t’p”’c S”nds

‘ n’mb’r ‘f ‘n’m’t’p”’c s”nds ‘n ‘ngl’sh n’t’r’ll’ h’v’ n’ v’w’ls l’k’ “Pffff”, “Tch”, “Ssssshhh”, “Brrrrrrrrr” ‘nd ‘th’rs. Crwth, ‘n ‘nc”nt C’lt’c ‘nstr’m’nt, d”s n’t h’v’ ‘n v’w’ls ‘n th’t w’rd.

Y

Wh’t ‘b”t th’ l’tt’r Y? ‘s ‘t n’t ‘ v’w’l? Th’ L’tt’r Y c’n f’nct”n l’k’ v’w’l wh’n pl’c’d wh’r’ ‘ v’w’l w”ld b’, ‘sp’c”ll’ ‘t th’ ‘nd ‘f w’rds l’k’ dr’. F’r th’s r”s’n, ‘t f’nct”ns l’k’ ‘ v’w’l m’st ‘f th’ t’m’, h’ncv wh’ y” c’nn’t s” ‘t ‘n th’s ‘rt’cl’, ‘xc’pt wh’n ‘ ‘m r’f’rr’ng t’ th’ l’tt’r ‘ts’lf. Th’t s”d, wh’n th’ l’tt’r Y st’rts ‘ff ‘ w’rd l’k’ ‘n “Y’rd” ‘r gl’d’s w’th’n ‘ w’rd l’k’ “L’wyer” th’n ‘t tr’l’ f’nct”ns l’k’ ‘ c’ns’n’nt. S’ ‘t ‘s tr”. Y r”lly ‘s s’m’t’m’s ‘ v’w’l, ‘nd s’m’t’m’s n’t.

K”p G”ng?

H’v’ y” r”d th’s f’r? D’d y” st’p h’lfw”? D’d r”d’ng th’s p’rh’ps ‘v’n g’v’ y” ‘ h”d’ch’? ‘ d”bt ‘t. ‘n’b’d’ wh’ c’nn’t st’nd th’s w”ld b’ sm’rt ‘n”gh t’ ‘x’t th’s wr’t’-‘p b’f’r’ d”ng d’m’g’ t’ th’ms’lv’s. ‘n ‘ f’n’l n’t’, ‘ w”ld l’k’ t’ t’lk ‘b”t c’ts, d’gs, b’rds, p’th’ns, ‘l’ctr’c c’rs, ‘nd sm‘rtph‘n‘s. R’m’mb’r, th’s ‘s M’ll’nn”m R’v’r ‘ft’r ‘ll. ‘n’ d”s n’t s’mpl’ r’w th”r b”t d’wn M’ll’nn”m R’v’r w’th”t s”’ng ‘ wr’t’-‘p ‘f 1 ‘f th’s’ th’m’s. Y’s, th’r’ ‘r’ ‘th’r t’p’cs ‘f c”rs’, b’t m’ R’v’r h’s ‘ l’t ‘f ‘n’m’l ‘nd t’chn’l’g’c’l t’p’cs ‘n ‘t. S’m’ m’s’c’l ‘nstr’m’nts, w”t! Sp”k’ng ‘f th’t, ‘ d’ b’l”v’ th’t ‘s h’s b”n ‘ v’ry l’ng t’m’ s’nc’ ‘ h’v’ t’p’d s’m’th’ng ‘b”t m’s’c’l ‘nstr’m’nts. P’rh’ps ‘ sh”ld tr’ t’ g’t m’r’ m’s’c’l wr’t’-‘ps d’n’ ‘n 2023. Th’s y”r, 2022, ‘ t’ld m’s’lf th’t ‘ w”ld ‘ncl’d’ m’r’ t’p’cs ‘n ‘n’m’ls ‘nd n’t’r’. Wh’l’ ‘ d’d p’t ‘p m’r’ p’sts ‘n ‘n’m’ls ‘nd n’t’r’, ‘ d’ f”l th’t ‘ c”ld h’v’ d’n’ ‘v’n m’r’. 2023 m”b’? W’ sh’ll s”. Th’t ‘s ‘ll f’r n’w. 

This Blog Post With Vowels Included

Absolute Madness?

Is writing an entire article without vowels absolute madness? If you are a modern English reader looking at this blog post irritated and confused as to how such a bewildering idea even came to my mind, then absolutely! More on this later. Technically, this write-up itself would classify as a blog post rather than an article, but you get the point. That is if you have not clicked away in frustration already. Have courage? Curious? Keep reading and see how long you last.

Languages With No Vowels

Depending on how familiar you are with other languages, you may already know that some languages once did not write down their vowels! If your mother tongue happens to be from that of the Afro-Asiatic family, you will be very familiar with this matter. You see, Ancient Hebrew, Ancient Egyptian, and Ancient Arabic did not write down their vowels. Modern Hebrew does write down vowels, but I hear that modern Arabic reportedly does not always write down vowels, due to the Abjad writing system. Interesting if true. As for the case of Egyptian, now known as Coptic, yes, they do write down all of their vowels. No, they no longer use their majestic, beautiful hieroglyphics, but the more practical Greek alphabet. Coptic also uses a few symbols from Demotic for sounds that the Greek alphabet does not cover. There may be more languages like this, but these are the only languages that I know of from the top of my head. 

English Without Vowels Is Hard

There are very few English words without vowels. Therefore, writing without vowels in English is very hard and unnatural for English users. That said, it is not impossible thanks to the fact that English does not have lengthy conjugations, nor is it agglutinative. Can you imagine languages like Latin? Latin is a heavily inflected language and has plenty of vowels. Reading Latin written without vowels is said to be virtually impossible! I can imagine the same being true for other vowel-rich languages like Italian, a modern Romance language that almost always ends in vowels.

Easy For Sino-Tibetic Languages

Sino-Tibetic languages that use Hanzi for the writing system would pass the “No Vowels Challenge” with flying colours. Why? Because they do not even have an alphabet! Hanzi are logograms, meaning that they are symbols that represent words and sounds. Even though Japanese also uses Hanzi, called Kanji in their native language, Japanese would face significant difficulty with this challenge for 2 reasons: 1. It is highly agglutinative. 2. The Japanese syllabaries, Katakana and Hiragana are 99% dependent on vowels. The only Kana that does not end in a vowel is their “N” sound. And because Kana is extensively used to represent grammatical particles, some words, and conjugations, modern Japanese cannot take on this challenge. Key word: modern Japanese. At one point, Japanese was written entirely in Hanzi. If a Japanese person happens to know how to write in this ancient kana-free style, only then would they be able to pass this test easily.

Why Though?

Why not? Certainly, that would not be a satisfying answer. The real reason why I finally decided to this, is because I wanted to see what it would be like to write an entire post without vowels. Sometime ago, when I was researching ancient languages for fun, I learned that some ancient languages, mainly Afro-Asiatic, did not write vowels. I found that both interesting and crazy at the same time. Then one day, I decided to attempt this with the language I know: English. Before I started this blog post, I was conflicted in regards to how I would go about with marking the missing vowels. I initially thought of filling the empty vowel spaces with question marks like this for example: V?w?ls r?pl?c?d w?th qu?st??n m?rks. I thought that the use of question marks would make reading even more difficult than it already is with the loss of written vowels. I also considered just leaving nothing at all, but quickly realized that it would be even worse. I finally decided to replace the missing vowels with apostrophes. Interestingly, while an apostrophe is normally used to grammatically mark a possession or make a plural number, it can apparently also indicate the omission of 1 or more letters. I did not know that until today! Makes even more sense that I decided to use it for vowel omission in this article.

Onomatopoeic Sounds

A number of onomatopoeic sounds in English naturally have no vowels like “Pffff”, “Tch”, “Ssssshhh”, “Brrrrrrrrr” and others. Crwth, an Ancient Celtic instrument, does not have in vowels in that word.

Y

What about the letter Y? Is it not a vowel? The Letter Y can function like vowel when placed where a vowel would be, especially at the end of words like dry. For this reason, it functions like a vowel most of the time, hence why you cannot see it in this article, except when I am referring to the letter itself. That said, when the letter Y starts off a word like in “Yard” or glides within a word like “Lawyer” then it truly functions like a consonant. So it is true. Y really is sometimes a vowel, and sometimes not. 

Keep Going?

Have you read this far? Did you stop halfway? Did reading this perhaps even give you a headache? I doubt it. Anybody who cannot stand this would be smart enough to exit this write-up before doing damage to themselves. On a final note, I would like to talk about cats, dogs, birds, pythons, electric cars, and smartphones. Remember, this is Millennium River after all. One does not simply row their boat down Millennium River without seeing a write-up of 1 of those themes. Yes, there are other topics of course, but my River has a lot of animal and technological topics in it. Some musical instruments, wait! Speaking of that, I do believe that is has been a very long time since I have typed something about musical instruments. Perhaps I should try to get more musical write-ups done in 2023. This year, 2022, I told myself that I would include more topics on animals and nature. While did put up more posts on animals and nature, I do feel that I could have done even more. 2023 maybe? We shall see. That is all for now.