Originally posted by Vornskr:
I disagree. It's totally possible to pronounce clumps of phones that have no vowels; some languages even use such clumps as words. In English, for example, we can say something like "pssst" perfectly fine (though of course you can argue that it's not really a word). Other languages actually have several such words (Tashelhiyt and other Berber languages for one, I believe); Georgian allows words with vowelless syllables, though I'm not sure if it has truly vowelless words.
You are, however, absolutely right that a vowel is defined by pronunciation, not spelling.
You are, however, absolutely right that a vowel is defined by pronunciation, not spelling.
Can't speak for Georgian, but I wouldn't doubt it. In Russian at least, you've got prepositions like 's' 'v' and 'k', eg "v Rossiya". If the next word starts with the same consonant, though, you add an 'o', and wind up with eg "vo vtornik".
It's not uncommon for words to begin with clusters like 'vstr' or 'vsk'. I actually developed a terrible stutter during my third year because of it, but by fourth it was all good again.
Also, I can kill you with my brain.