1 DIPHTHONGS

In phonetics, a diphthong is a gliding vowel in the articulation of which there is a

continuous movement of the tongue from one position to a second. In this respect,
diphthongs are to be compared to pure vowels, which are unchanging, or steady-
state, vowels.
Despite the fact that diphthongs are considered as distinct phonemes, there are
represented, in phonetic transcription, by means of a pair of symbols indication
the first and the second positions of the tongue and lips. Therefore, most English
accents have 20 vowels phonemes, rather than just 12.
English has an important inventory of such phonemes. The vowel sounds in word
like ‘out’ and ‘eye” are represented as /aʊ/ and /aɪ/ respectively. It is not, as one
might imagine, a sequence of a monophthong and then a consonant /aw/ and /aj/.
In terms of length, English diphthongs are long vowel sounds. However, what
should be noted is that, in all the diphthongs, the first part is always longer and
louder than the second. Approximately, the first part takes about three fourths of
the total length of the diphthong, and the second takes only one forth. This results
in a less prominence in the production of the latter.
English learners, particularly those speaking languages that don’t include such
sounds, should be careful not to make the second element more prominent, i.e.
longer and louder, than it is necessary.
In RP (BBC pronunciation), there are eight (8) diphthongs, but in Standard
American English, there are only five (5). English Diphthongs are classified
according to the position of the tongue towards which the tongue glides.
The eight diphthongs are divided into three groups according to the second
element:
I. In three of them, the tongue moves towards a high front position, thus the
second part is /ɪ/. These diphthongs are /eɪ/ , /aɪ/, and /ɔɪ/.
a. /eɪ/
Description:
The glide starts at a tongue height between front close-mid and open-
mid and moves towards the short /ɪ/ position. The lips are moderately
spread.
Examples:
/eɪ/ as in name, say, bay etc.
 b. /aɪ/
Description:
The glide begins at a front open position, but closer to central, and
moves in the direction of the position associated with the short /ɪ/. The
lips change from a neutral to a moderately spread position.
Examples:
/aɪ/ as in eye, fly, sigh etc.
c. /ɔɪ/
Description:
The tongue glide begins at position between an open-mid back position,
and moves in the direction of the short /ɪ/. The lips change from a
rounded to a neutral position.
Examples:
/ɔɪ/ as in boy, toy, noise etc.
II. In two of diphthongs, the tongue glides towards a high back position, thus
the second part is /ʊ/. These are /əʊ/ and /aʊ/.
a. /əʊ/
Description:
The tongue glide begins at a central position, between open-mid and
close-mid, and moves in the direction of the short /ʊ/. The lips change
from a neutral to a slightly rounded position.
Examples:
/əʊ/ as in home, low, no etc.
In the Standard American English, the diphthongs in ‘home’ /əʊ/, is represented
as /oʊ/ due to the fact that the starting point is much further back than is in the
Standard British English.
b. /aʊ/
Description:
The tongue glide begins at an open position, between central and back,
but closer to central than the long /aː/, and moves in the direction of the
short /ʊ/. The lips change from a neutral to a slightly rounded position.
Examples:
/aʊ/ as in house, cow, bow etc.
III. The other tree diphthongs apply to RP, but not to General American, in
which the tongue glides to a mid-central position, and the second part is
thus /ə/. These are /ɪə/, /eə/, and /ʊə/.
a. /ɪə/
Description:
The glide begins at a front close position, similar to the short /ɪ/ and
moves in the direction of the mid-central position, i.e., towards the
schwa /ə/. There is a subtle change in lip position from slightly spread
to neutral.
Examples:
/ɪə/ as in beard, clear, fear etc.
b. /eə/
Description:
The tongue glide begins from an open-mid position, i.e. approximately
the short monophthong /e/, and moves in the direction of the mid-central
position /ə/. The lips are neutral throughout.
Examples:
/eə/ as in hair, fair, bare etc.

c. /ʊə/
Description:
The glide begins from a back close position similar to that of /ʊ/, and
moves towards the mid-central position /ə/. The lips change from
slightly rounded to neutral.
Examples:
/ʊə/ as in poor, lure, insurance, etc.
The first set of diphthongs, namely /eɪ/ , /aɪ/, and /ɔɪ/, and the second set, namely
/əʊ/ and /aʊ/, are known as the closing diphthongs because in each one the tongue
glides towards a close position. The third set, namely /ɪə/, /eə/, and /ʊə/, in which
the tongue moves towards a central position, are known as centering diphthongs.
The following diagram (figure 1) illustrate this method of classification.
 English Diphthongs

Centering Diphthongs
Closing Diphthongs
/ɪə/ /eə/ /ʊə/

Ending in /ɪ/ Ending in /ʊ/

/eɪ/ /aɪ/ /ɔɪ/ /əʊ/ /aʊ/

Figure 1 English Diphthong Classification

Notes:
i. In Standard American English, in words having these three last diphthongs
there is an ‘r’ following the diphthongs, these diphthongs, in Standard
American English, are replaced by a pure short monophthongs /ɪ/, /e/, and
/ʊ/ respectively. The words in the previous example are therefore
pronounced beard /bɪrd/, clear /klɪr/, fear /fɪr/, hair /her/, fair /fer/, bare /ber/,
poor /pʊr/, lure /lʊr/, and insurance /ɪnsʊrəns/.
ii. This conventional analysis of English vowels is to a certain extent arbitrary.
For instance, words like ‘few’, ‘new’, ‘cue’ and ‘view’ are transcribed
/fju:/, /nju:/, /kju:/, and /vju:/ respectively, do not contain a diphthong /ɪu/,
but there is a sequence of the consonant /j/ and a monophthong /u:/. The
/ɪu/ is classified as a rising (or ascending) diphthong. On the contrary, all
the English diphthongs are classified as falling (or descending)
diphthongs. Falling diphthongs start with a vowel quality of higher
prominence, i.e. the first part is longer and louder than the second part.
Rising diphthongs, on the other hand, begin with a less prominent vowel
quality and end with a more prominent vowel.
iii. In English, there is a special type of vowel sequence where three vowel
sounds occur successively known as triphthongs. They are to be discussed
later.
2 TRIPHTHONGS
English has typical vowel sequences that consist of tree vowels sounds. They are
called triphthongs.
A triphthong is a continuous rapid glide from a vowel sound to a second and
then to a third.
English has 5 triphthongs, namely /eɪə/, /aɪə/, /ɔɪə/,/əʊə/, and /aʊə/. Unlike
diphthongs, triphthongs are not analyzed as distinct phonemes, but rather as
closing diphthongs followed by a monophthong, namely /ə/. Thus we get:
eɪ+ə = eɪə as in ‘layer’, ‘player’
aɪ+ə = aɪə as in ‘liar’, ‘higher’
ɔɪ+ə = ɔɪə as in ‘loyal’, ‘soya’
əʊ+ə = əʊə as in ‘lower’, ‘mower’
aʊ+ə = aʊə as in ‘hour’, ‘coward’
All the closing diphthongs can be followed by a schwa /ə/ within the same word,
whether as an integral part of the word (as in fire /faɪə/, Noah /nəʊə/, choir
/kwaɪə/, hire /haɪə/, society /səsaɪəti/, tower /taʊə/, or as a suffix added to the root
(as in greyer /greɪə/, slower /sləʊə/, mower /məʊə/, higher /haɪər/, employer
/ɪmplɔɪə/). In such cases, a third element may, in slow speech, be added to the
sequence of the glide.
However, in present English, the extent of the vowel movement is very small and
the second element of all diphthongs is weaker and shorter (falling diphthongs).
Also, there is a tendency in RP to omit the second element of the glide (/ɪ/ and
/ʊ/), especially when the /ə/ is not felt as a morpheme. This process is called
smoothing. This makes it difficult to distinguish triphthongs from diphthongs.
Examples:
1. /eɪə/ → [eːə] e.g. in player, layer, prayer, greyer.
2. /aɪə/ → [aːə] e.g. in fire, tyre, society, liable.
3. /aʊə/ → [aːə] e.g. in power, our, shower, flower, nowadays.
Sometimes, these reduced sequences are further reduced to a long monophthong
by omitting the schwa /ə/. Such reductions are considered as being not so
elegant (vulgar).
Examples:
1. /aɪə/ → [aːə] → [aː] e.g. fire /faɪə/ → [faɪə] → [faː].
Foreign learners should be aware of this tendency to reduce vowel glides,
especially in colloquial English. They will be more surprised to hear these reduced
forms among educated speakers. This is one form of change that any language
may experience, but foreign learners are advised not to use the extreme reduced
forms or the exaggerated glides containing /ɪ/ or /ʊ/ element, i.e. replacing them
with consonants /j/ or /w/, giving fire [fajə], player [plejə], shower [ʃawə], lower
[ləwə], etc.