vowels and in a way predictable from the position of the vowel in the word. Since then, has merged with in Southern Welsh dialects, but is retained. In Modern English, Y can represent the same vowel sounds as the letter I. The use of the letter Y to represent a vowel is more restricted in Modern English than it was in Middle and early Modern English. It occurs mainly in the following three environments: for upsilon in Greek loan-words (system: Greek σύστημα), at the end of a word (rye, city; compare cities, where S is final), and in place of I before the ending -ing (dy-ing, justify-ing). Consonant As a consonant in English, Y normally represents a palatal approximant, (year, yore). In this usage, the letter Y has replaced the Middle English letter yogh (Ȝȝ), which could represent . (Yogh could also represent other sounds, such as , which came to be written gh in Middle English.) Confusion in writing with the letter thorn When printing was introduced to Great Britain, Caxton and other English printers used Y in place of Þ (thorn: Modern English th), which did not exist in continental typefaces. From this convention comes the spelling of the as ye in the mock archaism Ye Olde Shoppe. But, in spite of the spelling, pronunciation was the same as for modern the (stressed , unstressed ). Pronouncing the article ye as yee () is purely a modern spelling pronunciation. Pronunciation and use English As : at the beginning of a word as in yes at the beginning of a syllable before a vowel as in beyond, lawyer, canyon As : under stress in an open syllable as in my, type, rye, lying, pyre, tyre, typhoon in a stressed open syllable as in hyphen, cycle, cylon in a pretonic open syllable as in hypothesis, psychology word-finally after a consonant, as in ally, unify As : without stress at the end of multi-syllable word, as in happy, baby, lucky, accuracy used as a diphthong in combination with e at the end of some words, as in money, key, valley As non-syllabic : in diphthongs at the end of words, as in play, grey, boy As : in a closed syllable without stress and with stress as in myth, system, gymnastics in a closed syllable under stress as in typical, lyric in an open syllable without stress as in physique, oxygen