Diphthong
What Is a Diphthong?
A diphthong is two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. For example:- hound
(In "hound," which is one syllable, the vowel sound starts with an "a" sound and glides to an "oo" sound. In phonetics, this would be written as ɑʊ.)
- jeer
(Here, the vowel sound starts with an "ee" sound and glides to an "uh" sound. In phonetics, this would be written as ιə.)
- hand,pen,dinner,cottage,butter
Table of Contents
- What Does Diphthong Mean?
- The 8 Diphthong Sounds
- Diphthongs Are Not Long Vowels
- Diphthong vs Disyllabic Vowel Pairings
- Why Diphthongs Are Important
- Video Lesson
- Test Time!
What Does Diphthong Mean?
The word "diphthong" originates from Greek. It means "two voices" or "two sounds." A diphthong is sometimes called a "gliding vowel" because moving from the first vowel sound to the second is called "gliding."The 8 Diphthong Sounds
Here are the eight diphthong sounds:phonetic symbol | common letters | example words |
---|---|---|
ɑι | i, igh, y | crime , light , byte |
eι | ea, ey, ay, ai, a | break , prey , pray , braid , ache |
əʊ | ow, oa, ough | slow , moan , dough |
ɑʊ | ou, ow | hound , crown |
eə | ai, ea | lair , bear |
ιə | ee, ie, ea | jeer , pier , near |
ɔι | oy, oi | boy , oil |
ʊə | u | pure |
Diphthongs Are Not Long Vowels
Do not confuse diphthongs with "long vowels." Even though diphthongs have two sounds, they are not necessarily longer than the other vowels. In spelling, the term "long vowel" is reserved for the sounds "A, E, I, O, U," while the term "short vowel" is used for "a, e, i, o, u."Diphthong vs Disyllabic Vowel Pairings
Do not confuse diphthongs with disyllabic vowel pairings (i.e., vowel pairings that have two distinct syllables). For example:Diphthong
The word"reign"
contains the diphthong "ei," which starts with an "eh" sound and glides to an "ee" sound (eι).
Disyllabic vowel pairing
The vowel pairing "ei" in the word"reinvent"
does not contain a diphthong. This word clearly has three syllables (re-in-vent). Sometimes, distinguishing between a diphthong and two syllables is harder. For example, the word "ruin"
also has two syllables (ru-in). So, the "ui" is not a diphthong. The same is true for "fluid"
(2 syllables), "suicide"
(3 syllables), and "intuitive"
(4 syllables). When you have a short, stressed vowel followed by an unstressed vowel (like in "ruin"), it can sound like a diphthong (and in some accents might be!), and many such words commonly cause debate among linguistics scholars about their diphthonginess.
Diphthongs are common. They're everywhere. A diphthong can appear at the beginning of a word, the middle of a word, or the end of a word. For example:
- Beginning.
- out,oil,ache
- Middle.
- hound,boil,break
- End.
- slow,enjoy,prey
- cowboy(ɑʊ and ɔι),highway(ɑι and ɑι),mealtime(ιə and ɑι)
- A diphthong is a vowel in which there is a noticeable sound change within the same syllable.
- "Diphthong" originates from the Greek for "two voices" or "two sounds."
- A diphthong creates a unique sound as its two vowel sounds glide together.
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Test Time!
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