Diphthong
From Teflpedia
A diphthong (/ˈdɪfθɒŋg/) is a sound that moves from one vowel sound to another. There are two main kinds in English: rising diphthongs and falling diphthongs.
Falling diphthong[edit]
A falling diphthong starts with a vowel of higher prominence and ends with a short vowel [ɪ], [ʊ], [ə] or semivowel [j] or [w]. In English it is customary to use vowels (e.g. [ɪ] instead of [j]), and to consider falling diphthongs as phonemes.
- IPA phoneme /eɪ/: face, play
- IPA phoneme /ɔɪ/: choice, boy
- IPA phoneme /aʊ/: mouth, how
- IPA phoneme /aɪ/: price, fly
- IPA phoneme /əʊ/: goat, so
- IPA phoneme /eə/: square
- IPA phoneme /ʊə/: cure
- IPA phoneme /ɪə/: near
Some phoneticians consider that /iː/ is a diphthong [ij] and that /uː/ is a diphthong [uw].
Rising diphthong[edit]
A rising diphthong begins with a semivowel [j] or [w]. In English rising diphthongs are normally analyzed as sequences of two phonemes. There are many rising diphthongs in English, as /j/ and /w/ can combine with many vowels.
- IPA phonetic sequence /juː/: cute, few
- /jɒ/: yacht
- /je/: yell
- /jə/: Kenya
- /wiː/: weed
- /wɪ/: quick
- /wɔː/: walk