English Diphthongs

DIPTHONGS A.

CLOSING DIPTHONGS. The sound /ei/ is usually written with the letters:

"A":

baby, face, late, page, place, same, take. (The final "e" indicates that "a" is pronounced /ei/. without this final "e" the pronunciation would be a vowel, e.g.

Sam [ sæm], bath [ba:θ]

"AY": "Al": "EA":

day, say, stay, today, way. rain Spain, train, wait. great, weight, steak,

Other spellings grey, they, break, eight.

There is a similar diphthong in Spanish: ley ) lady. Reina ) raining Some words to transcribe: Paper: [peip?]; sail [seil]; radio[reidi?u]; James [dYeimz]; railway [reilwei]; station [steiRn]; newspaper [nju:speip?]; date [deit].

2. /əu/ or /ou/ or /əT/.

This has two sounds /e/ and /u/ or /T/. The second element of the diphthong is very short and the first one is longer than /e/.The lips at the beginning are in a neutral position and then gradually rounded as the tongue rises to make /u/.

Spelling.

The sound /eu/ is usually written with the letters: - o: go, hello, no, old, only, hotel.

- o...e: home, hole, nose, those.

- oa: boat, coat, road, Joan.

-ow: know, low, narrow, show, slow, throw, ...

-ou: though, soul, shoulder.

Some words: boat [beut]; Joan [dYeun]; Jones’s[dY?unziz]; hotel [h?u’tel]; hello[he’l?u].

3. Dipthong /ai/

This has two sounds /a:/ and then add /i/, this is a short sound. Most students have little difficulties with this sound.

Spelling.

The sound /ai/ is usually written with the letters ‘i’ or ‘y’.

- i, y: child, find, five, smile, try, by, fly, right, sky, ...

- igh: high, light, night, right, bright.

-ye: eye, goodbye.

- Other spellings: lie, buy, Some words: Pie [pai]; kite [kait], climbing [klaimiM]; riding [raidiM] ; rice [rais], bright [brait]; ice-skating [ais skeitiM]; ice-cream [ais kri:m]; goodnight [gTdnait], Friday [fraidi] 4. Dipthong /aT/ The first sound is, in some way, similar to /æ/, then add /T/; this second sound is very short. There is an /au/ diphthong in Spanish but it is pronounced higher and it is much more tense than the English equivalent.

Spelling: The sound /au/ is written with the letters: -ou: about, mouth, count, round, out, round.

-ow: cow, crowd, flower, down, now, town, brown.

Some words: Flowers [flaT?z]; mouse [maus], mice [mais], thousand [SaTznd]; cows[kaTz], trousers [traTz?z].

5. Diphthong /Ni/.

The two sounds in this diphthong are: /N:/ even pronounced longer, then /i/, being even shorter. There are few words for the practice of this sound at beginner’s level.

Spelling: The sound /Ni/ is written with the letters: -oi: noise, point, voice, ... [nNiz] - oy: boy, toy, employ, ...

B. CENTRING DIPTHONGS. 1. Diphthong /i?/.

In this diphthong both elements are short, but the accent falls on the first one. This sound is difficult for most students, although it will be used quite frequently in many words: here, hear, fear, dear,...

When this diphthong is followed by an “r”, this consonant is not pronounced except when the following syllable or word begins with a vowel, in this case a linking “r” can be

pronounced.

E.g. fearing [fi?riM] Spelling: The sound /i?/ is written: -ea: dear, hear, ear, near.

-er,eer: deer, beer, here.

Other spellings: idea, real, museum.

2. Dipthong /εə/ /eə/ The first sound is an /e/ but you have to make it a little longer, then add /e/. Most students pronounce the -er with the “r” always pronounced. Beginners will be using the word “there” frequently, and may be confused by the different uses of this word and the change in pronunciation in its unstressed form. Compare: There’s a book on the table.

It’s there.

In the first sentence the word “there” is used to introduce a sentence in which the subject (a book) follows a verb (is). The word “there” is unstressed, and in rapid speech most native speakers would tend to say [δəz] or [δəz], and would say [δεəz] only when speaking slowly or very correctly. In the second sentence the word “there” is an adverb of place, contrasted with here. The word “there” is stressed and pronounced [δεə] Spelling: The sound /De/ is usually written with the letters: -are: share, scare, mare, care.

-air: chair, pair, air, ...

- ear: bear, tear -ere: where, there.

Other spellings: their, they’re, wear, Mary.

Some words: Beer [bie]; near [nie]; here [hie]; chair [tRεə]; where [wεə]; airport [εəpN:t]; square [skwεə] 3. Dipthongs / oə / and /uə/.

The diphthong /oə/ is normally replaced by a /N:/ by RP speakers, that is why I don’t think it is important but although we don’t care about its production you should understand it.

Spelling: -oar, ore, our, oor: boar, for, soar, your, pour, more, door, ...

Diphthong /uə/. The first element is a /u/ and the second one is a /ə/. It is often pronounced /N:/ or /N / Look at the following examples: poor [puə] [pNe] [pN:] sure [Ruə] [RNe] [RN] Some people also speak of triptongs [aiə], [eiə], [auə], [əuə], [oiə] Fire, flower, shower, player, they’re, lower, enjoyable [in’dYniebl].