Ministry of Higher Education

University of Raparin
College of Basic Education
Department of English Language – Second Stage

Report about:

Diphthongs
Supervised by:
Mr. Saman Abubakr
Prepared by:
Sonya

2020-2021

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 Abstract
In this report we are going to talk about diphthongs and defining it in the
introduction with the definition of dictionaries. Then we will write discussion and
write down Previous phonetic studies of English centering diphthongs and the
articles of Cruttenden on diphthongs. We would also be able to count The Number
of Diphthongs and how they pronounce. At the end, we have the conclusion.

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 Contents
Introduction 4
Discussion 4
Previous phonetic studies of English centering diphthongs 4
The Number of Diphthongs and how they pronounce 5
Conclusion 8
References 9

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 Introduction
Received Pronunciation has a large number of diphthongs, sounds which consist of
a movement or glide from one vowel to another. A vowel which remains constant
and does not glide is called a pure vowel, and one of the most common
pronunciation mistakes that result in a learner of English having a "foreign" accent
is the production of pure vowels where a diphthong should be pronounced. In
terms of length, diphthongs are like the long vowels described above. Perhaps the
most important thing to remember about all the diphthongs is that the first part is
much longer and stronger than the second part; for example, most of the diphthong
at (as in the words 'eye', 'I') consists of the a vowel, and only in about the last
quarter of the diphthong does the glide to I become noticeable. As the glide to I
happens, the loudness of the sound decreases. As a result, the t part is shorter and
quieter. Foreign learners must, therefore, always remember that the last part of
English diphthongs must not be made too strongly. The total number of diphthongs
is eight. (Raoch, 1991, p. 18) More easily Diphthong, in phonetics, a
gliding vowel in the articulation of which there is a continuous transition from one
position to another. Diphthongs are to be contrasted in this respect with so-called
pure vowels—i.e., unchanging, or steady state, vowels. Though they are
single speech sounds, diphthongs are usually represented, in a phonetic
transcription of speech, by means of a pair of characters indicating the initial and
final configurations of the vocal tract. Many of the vowel sounds in
most dialects of English are diphthongs: e.g., the vowels of “out” and “ice,”
represented as [au] and [ai], respectively.1

Discussion

2. Previous phonetic studies of

English centering diphthongs

1
https://www.britannica.com/science/wave-physics

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2. Previous phonetic studies of
English centering diphthongs
2. Previous phonetic studies of
English centering diphthongs
Previous phonetic studies of English centering diphthongs
Cruttenden (2001) distinguishes between almost complete changes, well-
established changes and recent innovations. Among almost complete changes
related to diphthongs he notes that // is realized monophthongally as // and
that // is regularly pronounced as // rather than as //. Among well-
established changes related to diphthongs he notes that // is used instead
of // (the same observation is made by Roach et al. (2006)), especially in
monosyllabic words, like sure, poor, cure, moor, and tour. This change, however,
is lexically conditioned. Certain words like monosyllabic pure and non-
monosyllabic curious, puerile, endure and secure are less likely to be
produced with //, whereas others like dour, gourd, lure, Ruhr and Ure are
never pronounced with //. Also words derived from // plus a suffixal //
like doer, fewer, newer, two-er, viewer are never pronounced with //. Among
recent innovations he cites realizing // and // as [] and [], e.g. beer []
and sure []. N.B. the latter change
competes with the replacement of // by //. Upton et al. (2003) discuss
changes related to two diphthongs. Their transcription of the diphthong in words
such as nice and try is // because they judge the starting point of the diphthong
to be now in the area of the half-open, back centralized vowel //, rather
than the low front position []. They add that this symbol was first used for RP by
MacCarthy (1978). The second diphthong they comment on is the one in
square and hair. They note that a fully diphthongal pronunciation is now a
feature of a marked variety of RP, even more rarely heard in a compound such as
hairpiece than in hair. The primary pronunciation according to Upton et al. (2003)

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is now a monophthongal //, although especially in a stressed final syllable it
might be followed by an off-glide.

The Number of Diphthongs and how they pronounce

Closing Diphthongs: /eɪ əʊ ɑɪ ɑʊ ɔɪ/
These diphthongs are initiated by five pure vowels, namely: /e ə æ ɑ ɔ/. They glide
or
move towards two hosting pure vowels, namely: /ɪ ʊ/, which happen to be closing
vowels. This is why these two sets of pure vowels have given “birth” to these
closing
diphthongs.
1- /eɪ/
As the diphthong trapezium shows a glide that is initiated around the half-close
region
of the mouth ends up at a region around the close/back of the mouth. A glide such
as
this gives rise to the closing diphthong above. It appears as:
a in: late, Kate, day
ai in: rain, fail, wait
ei in: eight, weight, rein
ea in: great, break steak
2- /əʊ/
Like /eɪ/, this diphthong moves from the half-close position to the close and back
region. It appears as:
o in: sow, oh, both
oa in: soap, road, toast
oe in: foe, hoe, toe

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ou in: soul, though, shoulder
3- /ɑɪ/
This diphthong glides from a front open position near vowel No. 4, /æ/, as
indicated in
the trapezium, to the front close region where we have the hosting pure vowel no.
2, /ɪ/.
Some varieties of the diphthong extend till the front back of the mouth. It appears
as:
i in: time, right, wide
y in: dry, why, by
ie, ye in: lie, die, pie
igh, in: fight, light, high
eigh in: height freight
e, uy, in: eye, buy, guy
ei, ai in: either, eider, aisle
4- /ɑʊ/
This is a counterpart to /ɑɪ/ but its host to which it glides resides at the back close
region. It appears as:
ou in: house, sound, plough, bough
ow in: now, cow, how
5- /ɔɪ/
This diphthong glides from the back open region to the front close region. it
appears as:
oy in: boy, ploy,
oi in: noise, choice, point
uo in: buoy
3.2 The Centering Diphthongs: /ɪə ɛə ʊə/
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Look at the pure vowel trapezium, locate the centre of the mouth and note a pair of
pure
vowels prominently located there. One of the pairs, the schwa, plays host to these
four
diphthongs; this is the reason they are described as centring diphthongs.
6- /ɪə/
This is a centring diphthong initiated from the front close region. It appears as:
ee, ere, ea, in: deer, dear, here, tear (Nn.)
ei, ie, i in: weird, fierce, fakir
ea, ia, eu, eo in, idea, Ian, museum, theological
19. /ɛə/
This centring diphthong is initiated at the half-close region. It appears as:
are in: care, rare, share
air in: air, fair, pair
ear in: bear, pear wear, tear (vb.)
ei, ere, a in: their, heir, there, Mary
7- /ʊə/
This diphthong begins at the close back region of the mouth and goes on to meet
the
host at the centre of the mouth. It appears as:
oor in: poor, moor
ure in: pure, endure cure, sure
ur in: curious, spurious during
ewer in: sewer
our in: tour, dour gourd

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 Conclusion
Diphthongs contrast with monophthongs, where the tongue or other speech organs
do not move and the syllable contains only a single vowel sound. For instance, in
English, the word ah is spoken as a monophthong (/ɑː/), while the word ow is
spoken as a diphthong in most varieties (/aʊ/). Where two adjacent vowel sounds
occur in different syllables for example, in the English word re-elect the result is
described as hiatus, not as a diphthong. (The English word hiatus /ˌhaɪˈeɪtəs/ is
itself an example of both hiatus and diphthongs.)
Diphthongs often form when separate vowels are run together in rapid speech
during a conversation. However, there are also unitary diphthongs, as in the
English examples above, which are heard by listeners as single-vowel sounds
(phonemes).

References
1- Applied English Phonology, Second Edition  Mehmet Yavas
2- https://liduaeka.weebly.com/uploads/1/0/7/6/10761275/
u4_english_diphthongs_and_triphthongs.pdf
3- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
250166669_English_Centering_Diphthong_Production_By_Polish_Learners
_of_English
4- Long vowels, diphthongs and triphthongs: peter roach
5- Padgett, Jaye (2007), "Glides, Vowels, and Features", Lingua, 118 (12):
1937–1955, doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2007.10.002
6- Padgett, Jaye (2007), "Glides, Vowels, and Features", Lingua, 118 (12):
1937–1955, doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2007.10.002

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