* Phonetic Symbols: The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) has a specific symbol for every distinct vowel sound, regardless of language. This system uses 20 symbols to represent the core vowel sounds, and additional diacritics to indicate variations.
* Language-Specific Symbols: Some languages use their own specific symbols or diacritics to represent vowel sounds, often beyond those used in the IPA. This can vary drastically between languages.
* Orthographic Symbols: Many languages use a limited set of letters to represent different vowel sounds. For example, English uses the letters A, E, I, O, U, and Y, which can be combined with diacritics like "a" in "cat" and "a" in "father" to represent different vowel sounds.
So, it depends on what you mean by "special symbols" and what context you're considering.
* IPA: 20 core symbols, plus diacritics for variations.
* Language-specific: Varies greatly based on the language.
* Orthographic: Fewer than the IPA, but often combined with diacritics.
Let me know if you have a specific language or context in mind, and I can provide a more precise answer.