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This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.
American English pronunciation of "no highway cowboys" /noʊ ˈhaɪweɪ ˈkaʊbɔɪz/, showing five diphthongs: /oʊ,aɪ,eɪ,aʊ,ɔɪ/
A diphthong (/ˈdɪfθɒŋ,ˈdɪp-/DIF-thong, DIP-;[1] from Ancient Greek δίφθογγος (díphthongos) 'two sounds', from δίς (dís) 'twice', and φθόγγος (phthóngos) 'sound'), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable.[2] Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech apparatus) moves during the pronunciation of the vowel. In most varieties of English, the phrase "no highway cowboy" (/noʊˈhaɪweɪˈkaʊbɔɪ/noh HY-way KOW-boy) has five distinct diphthongs, one in every syllable.
Diphthongs contrast with monophthongs, where the tongue or other speech organs do not move and the syllable contains only a single vowel sound. For instance, in English, the word ah is spoken as a monophthong (/ɑː/), while the word ow is spoken as a diphthong in most varieties (/aʊ/). Where two adjacent vowel sounds occur in different syllables (e.g. in the English word re-elect) the result is described as hiatus, not as a diphthong.
Diphthongs often form when separate vowels are run together in rapid speech during a conversation. However, there are also unitary diphthongs, as in the English examples above, which are heard by listeners as single-vowel sounds (phonemes).[3]
^"diphthong". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021.
^"diphthong". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary.
^"Definition of 'Diphthong'". SIL International. Retrieved 17 January 2008.
[ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters. A diphthong (/ˈdɪfθɒŋ, ˈdɪp-/ DIF-thong, DIP-; from Ancient Greek δίφθογγος (díphthongos) 'two...
spurious diphthong (or false diphthong) is an Ancient Greek vowel that is etymologically a long vowel but written exactly like a true diphthong ει, ου (ei...
/ / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters. English diphthongs have undergone many changes since the Old and Middle English periods....
linguistics, vowel breaking, vowel fracture, or diphthongization is the sound change of a monophthong into a diphthong or triphthong. Vowel breaking may be unconditioned...
either the diphthong /aɪ/ ("long" ⟨i⟩) as in kite, the short /ɪ/ as in bill, or the ⟨ee⟩ sound /iː/ in the last syllable of machine. The diphthong /aɪ/ developed...
teaching to demonstrate the diphthong /aʊ/. English orthography also uses the homophonic spelling "ou" to represent this diphthong in words like "noun" and...
and in some dialects /ø/ – than in unstressed ones – /ɑ e u/. It had diphthongs that no longer exist in Modern English, which were /io̯ eo̯ æɑ̯/, with...
in RP /iː/ and /uː/ are slightly diphthongized, and are often narrowly transcribed in phonetic literature as diphthongs [ɪi] and [ʊu]. Vowels may be phonologically...
sound change by which a diphthong becomes a monophthong, a type of vowel shift. It is also known as ungliding, as diphthongs are also known as gliding...
developed into diphthongs of a generally less common type in which both elements are of the same height, called height-harmonic diphthongs. This process...
a result of the monophthongization that the diphthong /aj/ underwent in most words. A part of a diphthong, /aj/. Then, it has no diacritic but could be...
in a diphthong [flaɪ̯] or as a closed syllable ending in a consonant [flaj]. It is unusual for a language to contrast a semivowel and a diphthong containing...
hiatus but occasionally indicates a diphthong: compare modern Greek παϊδάκια (/paiˈðakia/, "lamb chops"), with a diphthong, and παιδάκια (/peˈðakia/, "little...
classical words if ⟨ui⟩ were to be considered a diphthong. The sequences sometimes did not represent diphthongs. ⟨ae⟩ and ⟨oe⟩ also represented a sequence...
accuracy used as a diphthong in combination with e at the end of some words, as in money, key, valley As non-syllabic [ɪ̯]: in diphthongs at the end of words...
vowels as in Standard English. The diphthongs /ei/ and /ou/ are monophthongs [eː] and [oː] or even the reverse diphthongs [ie] and [uo] (e.g. bay and boat...
with diphthongs, but not the same diphthongs as in Modern English. Scholars agree that the Middle English close vowels /iː uː/ became diphthongs around...
refers to quantity or diphthongization (−1=short, −2=long, −3=short but lengthened early in the history of Yiddish, −4=diphthong, −5=special length occurring...
length are distinguished, and there are a range of diphthongs, although vowel harmony limits which diphthongs are possible. Finnish is a member of the Finnic...
monophthongs and diphthongs. Monophthongs are produced with a single articulatory movement (hence the prefix mono), while diphthongs feature an articulatory...
modern scholarly transliteration now usually renders ⟨κ⟩ as ⟨k⟩ and the diphthongs ⟨αι, οι, ει, ου⟩ as ⟨ai, oi, ei, ou⟩. "Greeklish" has also spread within...
close-mid diphthongs, and all of the close-mid diphthongs had been eliminated by late Middle English. The following processes produced the above diphthongs: Reinterpretation...
Greek of Lesbos. The diphthongs ᾱͅ, ῃ, ῳ /aːi eːi oːi/ were respectively simplified to the long vowels ᾱ, η, ω /aː eː oː/. The diphthongs αι, ει, and οι became...
of most glottal stops, the loss of case endings, the reduction of the diphthongs /aj/ and /aw/ into monophthongs /eː, oː/, etc. Most of these changes are...
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