Triphthong
æ | ɑː | |
trap | father - start | |
e | eɪ | eə |
dress | face | square |
ɪ | iː | ɪə |
kit | fleece | near |
ɒ | əʊ | ɔː |
lot | goat | taught |
ʊ | uː | ʊə |
foot | goose | mature |
juː | jʊə | |
cute | cure | |
ʌ | ə | ɜː |
strut | comma | nurse |
aɪ | aʊ | ɔɪ |
price | mouth | choice |
Normal sound: /b, d, f, g, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w, z/ | ||
ʃ | tʃ | ŋ |
show | church | sing |
ʒ | dʒ | j |
usual | judge | you |
θ | ð | s |
think | that | see |
IPA | Stress |
---|---|
ˈ | Primary stress hotel /həʊˈtel/ |
ˌ | Secondary stress understand /ˌʌndərˈstænd/ |
IPA | Syllabification |
---|---|
. | nitrate /ˈnaɪ.treɪt/, night-rate /ˈnaɪt.reɪt/ |
A triphthong is a long sound which is comprised of three combined vowel sounds in a single syllable. Some speakers break triphthongs into two syllables, a diphthong and a schwa.
Examples
A dot signals syllable boundary.
- /aʊə/: hour /aʊər/ and also /ˈaʊ.ər/. Compare with power, always /ˈpaʊ.ər/.
- /aɪə/: fire /faɪər/ and also /ˈfaɪ.ər/. Compare with liar, always /ˈlaɪ.ər/.
- /jʊə/: cure /kjʊər/ and also /ˈkjuː.ər/. Compare with fewer, always /ˈfjuː.ər/.
The following words are almost always heard as disyllables:
- /eɪə/: player /ˈpleɪ.ər/ could be pronounced /pleɪər/
- /ɔɪə/: royal /ˈrɔɪ.əl/ could be pronounced /rɔɪəl/
- /əʊə/: lower /ˈloʊ.ər/ could be pronounced /loʊər/
Rising triphthongs
A rising triphthong begins with a semivowel [j] or [w]. In English rising triphthongs are normally analyzed as sequences of two phonemes. There are many rising triphthongs in English, as /j/ and /w/ can combine with many diphthongs.
- /jəʊ/: yoga
- /jɪə/: year
- /jʊə/: cure
- /waɪ/: quite
- /waʊ/: wow
- /weə/: square
- /weɪ/: way
- /wəʊ/: quote
- /wɪə/: weird
Note
Linguist John Wells thinks there are no triphthongs in English, and in all cases there are two syllables.[1] This means that the difference between liar /ˈlaɪ.ər/[2] and lyre /laɪər/[3] does not exist: many people agree that these two words are homophones. Note that Wells considers cure /kjʊər/ to be a monosyllable, but not a triphthong, because /j/ is a semivowel and not a vowel.