SUMMARY

English Dipthong

A diphthong is a sound made by combining two vowels, specifically when it starts as one vowel
sound and goes to another, like the oy sound in oil.

Diphthong comes from the Greek word diphthongos which means "having two sounds." Notice
the di- for "double." So diphthongs are double vowel sounds in words like chair, fear, or pout. If two
vowels in a row are the same, as in boot or beer, then it's not a diphthong. Linguists, scholars who study
language, analyze diphthongs, which differ from language to language. Ironically, the
word diphthong has no diphthongs.

Centring Diphthong

Diphthongs are glides (movement of the tongue, lips and jaw) from one pure vowel to another.
The first sound in each phoneme is longer and louder than the second.

Centring diphthongs end with a /ə/. They are called centring diphthongs because /ə/ is a central
vowel.Lip positions: Below, when discussing how different close vowels are produced lip positions are
mentioned. This is a rough guide to the lip positions to guide you in your teaching journey.

Diphthong /ɪə/

This is one of the centring diphthongs (/ɪə/, /ɛə/ and /ʊə/). Diphthong /ɪə/, starts with the
tongue positioned for /ɪ/. In the second part of the pronunciation, the movement has two types. The
first is “the more open variety of /ə/ when /ɪə/ is final in the words”, while in the second type, in non-
final positions, the movement is not so extensive (Gimson, Introduction 142). The two pronunciations
are, in essence, “two main allophones of /ɪə/ in RP, corresponding to those of /ə/”
(O’Connor, Phonetics 170).

Diphthong /ɛə/

Diphthong /ɛə/ “starts at cardinal /ɛ/ or below and moves to more central but equally open
position” (171). Gimson adds that when final /ə/ acquires a more open position, while in the cases when
/ɛə/ is “closed by a consonant”, /ə/ it is of “mid … type” (Introduction 143). The variants are mostly in
the degree of openness of the first element (143).

Diphthong /ʊə/

The glide /ʊə/ has “coalesced with /ɔ:/ for most RP speakers” (Gimson, Introduction 145) and
“[a] monophthongal pronunciation is … found regularly before /r/ in, e.g. alluring, furious, having the
quality of the diphthong’s beginning point” (O’Connor, Phonetics 172). Gimson also gives an overview of
the monophthongal pronunciation, such as in the words your, Shaw or sure, but warns “that such
lowering of monophthongization of /ʊə/ is rarer in case of less commonly used monosyllabic words such
as moor, tour, dour” (Introduction 145). The diphthong is pronounced with the first element around /ʊ/,
while the second element reaches a “more open type of /ə/” (144).

Falling Diphthong
 which begin with higher pitch or volumes and end with lower pitch or volumes. These are also
referred to as /aɪ/ diphthongs and are often found in words that sound similar to “eye.” Examples
include “like,” “fly,” “light,” and “lime.”

Rising Diphthong

These begin with vowel sounds of lower pitches or volumes and end with more prominent ones,
similar to the [ja] in yard. Falling diphthongs are found in the words “few,” “yell,” “weed,” “chute,” and
“walk.