PAPER

CLASSIFICATION OF DIPHTHONGS
This paper was arranged to fulfill Phonetics assignment
Supporting Lecturer: AlifKaryawati, S.Pd.I.,M.Pd.

Arranged by:

SitiAzzizatunNisa’ulKhoiri (KKI-23030190019)
AlyaKhasanatulUlya

PROGRAM KHUSUS KELAS INTERNASIONAL (PKKI)

FAKULTAS TARBIYAH DAN ILMU KEGURUAN (FTIK)
INSTITUT AGAMA ISLAM NEGERI (IAIN) SALATIGA
2019

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 PREFACE

Praise be to Allah SWT for the blessings of His grace, that we were given the
opportunity to be able to compile a working paper entitled “Classification of Diphthongs”
properly and on time. May Sholawat and Salam always be delivered to Prophet
Muhammad SAW and his family.
The purpose in writing this paper is to fulfill the assignment that given by Mrs.
AlifKaryawati, S.Pd.I.,M.Pd. as lecturer in Phonetics major.
In compiling this paper, the writers truly get challenges and obstructions but with
helps of the others, those could be passed. Because of that, we genuinely say thank you.
The writers also realize that this paper still imperfects in arrangement and content. We
hope the criticism from the readers in perfecting the next paper.
Hopefully, this paper can help the readers to get more knowledge about Phonetics
major, especially for Classification of Diphthongs

Salatiga,29thof October 2019

The Writers

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 Table of Contents

Preface........................................................................................................................ 1
Table of Contents....................................................................................................... 2
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background.................................................................................................... 3
B. Formulation of Problem................................................................................. 3
C. The Benefits................................................................................................... 3
D. Purpose........................................................................................................... 3
CHAPTER II DISCUSSION
A. Definition ofDiphthongs................................................................................ 4
B. The Classification of Diphthongs................................................................. 4
CHAPTER III CONCLUSION
A. Conclusion...................................................................................................... 7
B. Suggestion...................................................................................................... 7
REFERENCES........................................................................................................... 8

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 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

A. Background
English is one of language that is used by most people in this world to
communicate. English has an important role as a means of communication especially
when one communicates w.ith the other people from the other countries. English is called
“an International Language”.
In Indonesia, English is the first foreign language that is considered important for
facing this globalization era. In learning English, a good diphtongs is important because
different diphtongs can make misunderstanding in conversation. For Indonesian student,
English is the first foreign languge they learn. Furthermore, it seem that they seldom use
English in daily conversation. They will speak in English if they are involved in a certain
situation. Indonesian’s student often make errors in pronunciation. The first reason is the
different elements beetwen target language and native language. The problem in
pronouncing English words because by the similar sounds beetwen native language and
target language with slightly different quality. The other reason is the same sounds
beetwen native language and target language but allophonic in target language. The same
sounds beetwen native language and target language when occuring in cluster because
Indonesian’s students pronounce English word diffculty. In addition, the last reason the
problem is the same sounds having different distributions.

B. Formulation of Problem
1. What is the diphthongs?
2. What is the kind of diphthongs?

C. The Benefits
a. Students know about definition of diphthongs.

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 b. Students know about the kinds of diphthongs.

D. Purpose
This paper is prepared with the aim of understanding a little about classification
of diphthongs in phonetics and speak English pronunciationwell.

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 CHAPTER II
DISCUSSION

A. Definition of Diphthongs

Based on Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2005:410), diphthong is a

combination of two vowel sounds or vowel letters, for example the sound /aɪ /
in pipe /paɪ p/ or the letter ou in doubt.‟ The origin of diphthong is from the
Greek word, diphthongos. Diphthongos is from two words, di and phthongos.Di
means 'twice', and phthongos means 'voice, sound'. A diphthong is a more complex vowel
sound. The word diphthong comes from the Latin word "diphthongus" and the Greek
word "diphthongos," meaning "having two sounds."Adiphthong is a glide from on pure
vowel (monophthong)to another pure vowel. A diphthongs is a long vowelsound made by
gliding from one position of the mouth to another withinthe same syllable. Depending on
your accent, we may use up to 8 diphthongsin English pronounciation.

B. The kind of diphthongs

It is divided to be closing and centering diphthongs. There are eight symbols of
diphthongs. The five symbols of closing diphthongs are 3, ending in ‘ɪ’:eɪaɪɔɪ and 2,
ending in ‘ʊ’:əʊaʊ. The three symbols of centering diphthongs are 3, ending in
‘ə’ :ɪəeəʊə.

a. Closing diphthongs: /eɪɑɪɔɪəʊɑʊ /

A closing diphthong is a diphthong when the movement of the tongue is
carried out from the position of and open vowel to that of a closer vowel. The
English closing diphthong is diphthongs that the second vowel is more „close‟ than
the first vowel.

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1. /eɪ/
Diphthong [eɪ
] is a front-front
closing half diphthong. First, the tongue
starts from the position for the vowel [e], a front vowel which is a little lower than
the half close position. Then, the tongue moves in the direction of the
vowelposition of [ɪ ], which is a little above the half close position, though it is
not necessarily reached. The lips are spread, and gradually closing.
The starting position is with tongue in mid position at front of mouth as in
"egg", "bed" or "ted". Therefore you move the tongue up to make the diphthong.
The examples are day, pay, say, lay, rain, fail, wait, eight, weight, rein, great,
break, steak, etc.
 raid [reɪ d]
 pain [peɪ n]
 fail [feɪ l]

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  tail [teɪ l]
2. /ɑɪ/
Diphthong [aɪ ] is a front-front closing full diphthong. First, the front of
the tongue is very slightly raised for the first element of the diphthong [aɪ ], which
is a front vowel with a position in between [æ] and [a:]. Then, the tongue moves
to a closer position as if to produce [ɪ ] vowel sound, though this position is
normally not reached (aɪ become æ). The lips are apart and gradually closing. The
starting position is , the same sound as in "cat". To make the diphthong you need
a big jaw movement, moving the tongue from front open to and front close. The
examples are sky, buy, cry, tie, time, right, dry, why, by, etc.
• mine [maɪ n]
• file [faɪ l]
• rice [raɪ s]
• lime [laɪ m]

3. /ɔɪ/

Diphthong [ɔ ɪ ] is a back-front closing full diphthong. First, the back of

the tongue is raised to a point midway between [ɔ ] and [ɔ :]. Then the front
tongue is gradually raised in the direction of [ɪ ], though in practice, it is never
reached; [ɔ ɪ ] sounds more or less like [ɔ e]. The lips are rounded for the first
element of the diphthong and gradually spread

The starting position is the sound in "door" or "or". Your tongue needs to
be low, but you need to pull it back and make your mouth round. To make the
diphthong, you relax the lip rounding and move your tongue forward and up. The
examples are boy, toy, coy, noise, choice, point, etc.
 soil [sɔ ɪ l]
 coil [kɔ ɪ l]
 point [pɔ ɪ nt]
 coin [kɔ ɪ n]
 /əʊ/

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 The starting position is the neutral vowel sound, also known as "Schwa",
which sounds like a grunt, as in the weak form of "the" or "a". To start in this
way, the tongue should be fixed in mid central position in your mouth with lips
relaxed. To make the diphthong, it is a short controlled movement in the opposite
direction of 5) above: from the Centre to the back moving your relaxed lips into a
tighter small round aperture. Your cheeks should move in a bit. The examples are
oh, no, so, phone ,go, slow, soap, road, toast, foe, hoe, toe, soul, though, shoulder,
etc.
 /ɑʊ/
Diphthong [a] is a front-back closing full diphthong. First, the front part of
the back (central part) of the tongue is slightly raised for the first element of the
diphthong [aʊ ]. This vowel is more backed than the first element of the
diphthong [aɪ ]. Then, the tongue moves in a direction of [ʊ ], though it never
reaches it ([aʊ ] become [ao]). The lips starts at the neutral position, and gradually
rounded. The starting position is the vowel sound as in "at" "bad" or "rat" with
tongue front but also low (i.e. mouth open). To make the diphthong the journey
for your tongue from front low (mouth very open) to back high (small tight mouth
aperture) is a very long excursion. Your jaw will move a lot too. The examples
are bound, house, brown, how, now, sound, plough, bough etc.
 sow [saʊ ]
 found [faʊnd]
 foul [faʊ l]
 now [naʊ ]

b. The Centering Diphthongs: /ɪəɛəʊə/

When the movement of the tongue is carried out to words the central
vowel [ə], the diphthong is called a centering diphthong. The English closing
diphthong is diphthongs that the second vowel is more “close‟ than the first
vowel.
1. /ɪə/
Diphthong [ɪ ə] is a high-front-centering diphthong. The tongue starts

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 from the vowel [ɪ ], as found in the word „bill‟ or the second from the word
„sikil‟ (Javanese), and not from the closer [i] vowel sound; then it glides away
in the direction of the central vowel [ə]. The two lips are in neutral position
during the vowel glide. (Ramelan, 1999:95) This is a centering diphthongs
initiated from the front close region. The examples are here, near, year, deer,
dear, here, etc.
 here [hɪ ə]
 fear [fɪ ə]
 dear [dɪ ə]
 beard [bɪəd]
2. /eə/
Diphthong [ɛ ə] is a low front-centering diphthong. The tongue starts from
an open vowel position, slightly higher than the position for the English [æ]
vowel sound as found in the word „man‟; then it glides away in the direction
of the central vowel [ə]. The lips are either spread or neutral during the glide.
The lower jaw is clearly felt to be slightly moving upward. This centering
diphthongs is initiated at the half-close region. The examples are dare, stare,
fair, hair, rare, bear, pear wear, tear, etc.
 hair [hɛ ə]
 pair [pɛ ə]
 bare [bɛ ə]
 rare [rɛ ə]
3. /ʊə/
Diphthong [ʊ ə] is a high back centering diphthong. The tongue starts
from the English vowel [ʊ ] position such as found in the word „good‟, and
not from the closer [u:]; then, it glides away in the direction of the central
vowel [ə]. The lips are rounded for the first element, and are then drawn back
to neutral position during the glide.
This diphthong begins at the close back region of the mouth and goes on
to meet the host at the center of the mouth. The examples are fur, sure, pure,
manure,curious, etc.

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 sure [ɭ ʊ ə]
 tour [tʊ ə]
 cure [kjʊ ə]
 pure [pʊ ə]

CHAPTER III
CLOSING

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A. Conclusion
Diphthong is a combination of two vowel sounds or vowel letters. The five
symbols of closing diphthongs are 3, ending in ‘ɪ’:eɪaɪɔɪ and 2, ending in ‘ʊ’:əʊaʊ. The
three symbols of centering diphthongs are 3, ending in ‘ə’ :ɪəeəʊə.

B. Suggestion
That is our paper that we make, hopefully it will give more knowledge about
dipthongs. As the writers, we want to apoplogy for the imperfection of this paper.

REFERENCES

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https://engoo.id/app/lessons/diphthongs-a%CA%8A-o%CA%8A/rxhydi44EeengKPS_StN8g
(accessed on 27 October 2019)

https://liduaeka.weebly.com/uploads/1/0/7/6/10761275/u4_english_diphthongs_and_triphthongs.
pdf(accessed on 27 October 2019)
http://www.tedpower.co.uk/esl0105.html(accessed on 29 October 2019)
Mustikareni, Dyah.2013.ERROR ANALYSIS ON ENGLISH DIPHTHONGS PRONOUNCED BY
THE STUDENTS OF SMA NEGERI 1 COMAL AND SMA NEGERI 1 BANJARNEGARA IN
ENGLISH DEBATE ON "RELAX" TV PROGRAM OF TVRI.Semarang: UniversitasNegeri
Semarang. file:///C:/Users/User%20Lenovo/Documents/2201409097.pdf(accessed on 30 October
2019)

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