The English diphthongs
Diphthongs have already been described as sequences of two vowels pronounced together, the two vocalic elements being members of the same syllable. We have shown that it is often difficult to distinguish a genuine diphthong from a sequence of a vowel and a semivowel, that we can often pronounce diphthongs and even long vowels as such sequences and it is often the shorter duration of the less prominent vowel in the diphthong that transforms it into a semi vocalic element. There is, for instance, a difference, both in quantity and quality between the second vocalic element in the English diphthong [ay] - that occurs, say, in the word buy, and the semivowel [j] in the Spanish interjection ayl [aj].
According to the position of the more prominent element in the diphthong we have already divided diphthongs into falling diphthongs - if the prominant element comes first - and rising diphthongs - if the less prominent element comes first. All English diphthongs belong to the first category, as it has already been pointed out.
Diphthongs can then be opening diphthongs if the degree of aperture increases with the glide or closing diphthongs if the less prominent vowel is closer than the first. We can also differentiate between wide diphthongs - those in which the glide implies a more radical movement of the speech organs (e.g. [a 2]) and narrow diphthongs - if the two vocalic elements occupy neighboring positions (e.g. [e] on the vowel chart. There are also cent ring diphthongs - if the glide is from a marginal vowel in the vowel chart - either back or front - to a central vowel. (See the three English diphthongs gliding towards schwa; [c] in dear, [e?] in chair and in moor - to which we should add [], no longer met in present-day standard English). A. The centering diphthongs is a centric &falling, narrow, opening diphthong that starts at about the position of the short, lax and glides towards schwa. The diphthong is distributed in all three basic positions: ear, deer, tier. If the first element of the diphthong does not have the normal prominence and length, it can be reduced to a glide and the diphthong is changed into [j:]. There are several possible spellings for the diphthong: eer as in deer, peer or career; ea(r) as in ear, weary, idea, tear (n. «lacrim»), beard, eir as in weird, ier as in fierce or pierce, ere as in here or mere. Exceptionally we can have ia as in media(l), labia(l), genial, eu as in museum, iu as in delirium-, eo as in theory and theology; e as in hero or in the diphthongized version of [i:]: serious, serial, b. [ec] is a centring falling, narrow, in most cases opening diphthong. The degree of openness of the first element varies, in some dialects of English the sound being quite close to [ae]. In the more conservative pronunciations, closer to RP, the articulation of the diphthong starts somewhere in the vicinity of cardinal vowel 2 [e]. Then follows a glide towards a variant of the schwa. There are dialects where the glide to [c] is very short and sometimes the diphthong is changed into a monophthong, a long, tense vowel [e:]. The diphthong is distributed in all three basic positions: air, scarce, fare. It can be spelt air: air, fair, chair, dairy, fairy; wee: fare, mare, care, care; ear: bear, wear, tear; acr: aerial, aero plane; ere: there; eir: their, heir. In words like prayer, layer, mayor, the spelling is ay followed by either or, or er. The vowel of Mary and derived words such as Maryland or Mary port is normally diphthongized to [ec]. c. [c] is a centering, falling, narrow, opening diphthong. If in the case of the two diphthongs analyzed before the glide was from a front vowel towards the centre of the imaginary vowel chart, in the case of [6 c] the articulation starts with a fairly back, close vowel [5]. [6 c] is distributed only hi word-medial: jewel or word-final position: sure. The most common spellings of the diphthong are: ure and oor - endure, mature, cure, pure (words where the semivowel [j] is inserted before the diphthong), sure, poor, moor, or ur followed by other vowels than e: curious, duration. In a number of cases we can have the spelling ou: our, gourd, bourse. The diphthong can also occur in words where the suffix er is attached to a base ending in (0) 8] fewer, newer, chewer, doer, pursuer.
d. [] c] is a diphthong that has not survived in present-day RP. It used to render the vowel of words like floor, door, pore, score, snore, coarse, hoarse, oar, course now pronounced []:]. It still does that in various dialects of English, though the general tendency seems to be to monophthong such diphthongs. This has been the fate of [5 c] as well, which in many variants of English is pronounced []:] in words like poor, sure etc.
B. The diphthongs to [y]: [jy], [ey]
a. [ay] is a falling, wide, closing diphthong. It is the diphthong that actually implies the amplest articulator movement of the speech organs that shift from the position of an open vowel which is fairly central (the position varies between cardinal vowels 5 and 4) to a front, close, lax vowel (not far from the position of cardinal vowel 1. Historically, the vowel originates in [i:], that subsequently lowered to [ey], than centered and lowered again to finally become [ay]. The diphthong is distributed in all three basic positions: isle [aisl]; bite [bayt], cry [kray]. It can be spelt i as in ice, dime, loci, or y a in dyke, fly, or ie as in die, lie, pie, or in inflected forms: spies, spied; ye as in dye, ye; ei as in height, either, neither, and, exceptionally uy in buy, guy. Note also the pronunciation of ay(e) [ay], eye [ay] and aisle is y falling, wide, closing diphthong. It starts from a back, mid vowel, situated between cardinal vowels 6 an 7 and ends in a front, close, lax vowel, somewhere in the vicinity of cardinal vowel 1. Like the preceding diphthong, it also involves an ample articulator movement from a back vowel to the front part of the imaginary vowel chart. It is distributed in all three basic positions: ointment, boil, toy. It can be spelt either oi: oil, toil or oy: oyster, Boyle, is SL falling, narrow, closing diphthong. It starts with a front, mid vowel - between cardinal vowels [e] and [e] - and glides to a higher vowel value, closing. Often the second element is very short, sometimes even dropped, the diphthong being reduced to a long vowel monophthong [e:]. In Cockney the diphthong starts with a lower and central vowel, being pronounced. The diphthong is distributed in all three basic positions: eight; plate, play. It can be spelt a: ace, lace; ai: aid, maid; ay: aye, clay; ei: eight, reign, ey: they, grey, ea: break, steak. Exceptionally, there are spellings like goal [goal], bass [bess], gauge [geuge], halfpenny [helfpeni]. The diphthong also occurs in a small number of French loan words ending in et or 6: ballet, bouquet, chalet, cafe, fiance, attache, resume. The diphthong starts with a central mid vowel and glides to a back close one. It is a falling, narrow, closing diphthong. It is distributed in all three basic positions: old, gold, flow. It has various spellings: o: old, sold, wo; oa: oak, roast, oe: toe, ow: own, known, row; ou: poultry, dough; eau: beau, bureau, and, exceptionally, au: gauche; oo: brooch; ew: sew; oh: oh. b. [a] is a falling, wide, closing diphthong. It starts as an open, fairly front vowel (in the vicinity of cardinal vowel 4) and glides towards. It is distributed in all three basic positions: ouch, loud, cougar. It can be spelt by ou: oust, doubt, plough, or ow: owl, howl, how and, exceptionally eo in MacLeod.
The lax and tense vowels we have looked at so far are monophthongs, sometimes called pure vowels. This is because the tongue and lips are relatively stationary while these vowels are being pronounced - the vowels do not move around in the vowel chart. Diphthongs, on the other hand, move through the chart as they are pronounced: they start at one vowel-position, and move towards another. The word diphthong is from Greek: it means «two vowels», and we write them as two vowels.
Diphthongs are tense vowels; they can be unchecked, and are subject to clipping like the «pure» tense vowels - they can be long or short.
The centering diphthongs occur only in the nonrhotic accents. In the rhotic accents, words such as NEAR SQUARE and CURE are pronounced with a single vowel (monophthong) followed by r.
This is by far the rarest vowel in RP (with a frequency of 0.06% - see Vowel Frequencies) - and is getting rapidly rarer, since words in the CURE set are moving over to THOUGHT, . This happened decades ago in mainstream RP with words such as 'sure' and 'poor', , , and in newer RP and Estuary English all of the old CURE set have gone over to THOUGHT.
Difference between SQUARE and NEAR
You'll hear different pronunciations of these two vowels (for instance, in some accents the disappears and the remaining vowel lengthens) but most accents of English keep them clearly distinguished. On the other hand speakers of English as a foreign language sometimes confuse these vowels, and Icelanders often do.
The Diphthongs
There are 9 diphthongs in English. [?i, ei, ou, au, i?, u?, ci, e?, ?i]
The English diphthongs are stable combination, no syllable division is possible in them. They may form phonological opposition either with monophtongs, diphthongized vowels or with each other.
E.g. bed - bid-bade-beard-bowed; letter - latter - later - litter [*33] is not an English phoneme, but a version of the vowel [c ?]. The first element of the diphthongs, which is called the nucleus, is pronounced distinctly arid clearly. The second element is glide. There are no diphthongs in Uzbek. According to the phonological approach combination of «vowel -+ - j» and vice versa, such as the Uzbek u-u, u-y, u - o, u-+ a, are considered to be these sequences of a vowel and consonant [y+c] They are not stable combinations but sometimes may be destroyed by the syllable division: cуй-унчи, тий-улиш.
The first element of the diphthongs [?i, ai, au, ?i, u?], to a certain degree acoustically resemble the Uzbek vowels [?i u, a] and [y]. Therefore it is not difficult to leach the Uzbeks to pronounce the nucleus of these diphthongs into [j] which is the most usual mistake in the pronunciation of the Uzbeks. There are also two combinations often used which consists of three vowels in English. There are: [?i, au?] them may be regarded as diphthongs and tile third consists of the vowel. Usually they are called trip tongs. But there is no trip tongs in Uzbek.
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