V.

The English Diphthongs and Triphthongs

5.1. The diphthongs

5.2. The triphthongs
5.3. The ratio between English and Romanian
vowel phonemes

5.1. The diphthongs

diphthongs = combinations of two vowel sounds in the production of which the tongue
moves or glides from one vowel position to another.
[ai]

diphthong

a
i
nucleus
glide
Fig.1. Structure of the diphthong.

Fig. 2. Decrease in length and sonority

DIPHTHONGS
CENTRING (opening)

CLOSING

glides to []

glides to [u]

i ei ai i

glides to [i]
a

5.1.1. Principles of classifying diphthongs

a. Stress: stress on the nucleus- falling diphthongs (all the English diphthongs
are falling, as a rule); stress on the glide - rising diphthongs (in
exceptional cases).
b. distance covered by the tongue in producing the diphthongs: short, the
diphthongs will be called narrow (ei, , i, , ); if the distance is longer,
the diphthongs will be named wide (ai, au, i).
c. height of the tongue: nucleus is opener than the glide = closing diphthong
(ei, ai, i, au, ); nucleus is closer than the glide= opening diphthong (i,
, u).

Centring (opening) diphthongs

Closing diphthongs

5.1.2. General characteristics of diphthongs

- monosyllabic character, i.e. a diphthong must necessarily consist of one syllable
(Jones, 1964:58).
- quantity: the English diphthongs are on a par with the long pure vowels and are subject
to the same length variations.
LONG
HALF-LONG
SHORT
pay [pei]
paid [peid]
pate [peit]
eye [ai]
file [fail]
fight [fait]
now [nau]
loud [laud]
louse [laus]
-distribution: in any position (just like the long vowels); only one restriction, i.e. no
diphthong can be used before [].
- the least stable of the English speech sounds.

5.1.3. Variants
a.

Reduced values of diphthongs: VOWELS -diphthongs are sometimes

heard as vowels: day, pay, the glide of [ei] is omitted and the nucleus
becomes longer: [d:]. - one of the differences in pronunciation between
British English (diphthongs) and American English (monophthong - [],
especially in unstressed final position (in casual speech): potato, tomato,
fellow.

b.

Alternative pronunciation - words ending in ine, some are pronounced

with the diphthong [ai] (columbine, serpentine, carmine), some others
with the monophthong [i] (engine, feminine, etc.).

c.

When the closing diphthongs are followed by dark l, their glides are
changed into a sort of [], e.g. pale [peil] [pel].

d.

Variants depending on the distribution of the diphthong - when [i] and []

appear in word-final position, their glide becomes [], e.g. idea
[aidi][aidi], fair [f] [f];

5.1.4. Spelling
[ei]
- a: tame, fame, brake, take;
-ai: aim, main, drain, waist;
-ay: day, may, lay, pay, hay;
-ei, ey; eight, veil, rein, vein, grey, they;
-ea: great, break, steak,
Exceptional spelling: gaol [deil], gauge [geid], halfpenny [heipni].
[ai]
-i + cons: wild, fine, mild, title, island, kind, benign;
-ie: die, tie, lie, pie, tried;
-y, ye: cry, dry, by, dye;
-igh, eigh: high, light, fight, height
Exceptional spelling: buy [bai], aisle [ail].
[i]
-oi: oil, boil, noise, void, point, voice;
-oy: boy, toy, oyster;
Exceptional spelling: buoy [bi], Freud [frid]
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continued
[]-o: note, so, old, bonus, home, dont, wont, folk [fk];
-oa: oak, road, toast, soap;
-oe: toe, roe, foe, hoe;
-ou: shoulder, soul, mould
-ow: row, grow, flow
Exceptional spelling: brooch [brt], sew [s]

[au]
-ou: house, mouse, mouth, sound, out;
-ow: owl, allow, cow, bow;

 continued
[i] -er: series
-eer: steer, beer, deer;
-ear: ear, tear, dear, fear, hear;
-ere: mere, here;
-eir, ier: weird, pier;
-ea: real, ideal;
-eo: theory, theological.
[u]
-oor: moor, poor
-ure: cure, pure endure
-our: tourism
-ue: fluent, fuel, duel.
[]-air: pair, hair, fair
-are: fare, hare, bare
-ear; pear, bear
Exceptional spelling: there, where, heir, their, scarce.

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5.2. THE ENGLISH TRIPHTHONGS

A triphthong is a glide from one vowel position to another and then to a third, all
produced rapidly and without interruption.

ei + = [ei] layer, player, greyer

ai + = [ai] fire, liar, hire
i + = [i] loyal, employer

+ = []
au + = [au]

lower, mower
hour, power

-main cause of difficulty for the foreign learners : - vowel movement is very small, except
in very careful pronunciation
-instability: in rapid speech they are reduced to diphthongs or even monophthongs.

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Diagram of [ai] and [au]

[ai]

Reduction of [ai]:
[ai] [a:] [a:]:
e.g. society [ssaiti] [ssa:ti] [ssa:ti]
entirely [intaili] [inta:li] [inta:li]
Spelling:
-ir + vowel letter: requirement, iron [airn], wire [wai]
-yr + vowel letter: Byron [bairn], tyrant [tairnt]
-i or y + vowel letter in unstressed position: diet [dait], dialogue
[dailg], liar [lai].
Exceptional spelling: choir [kwai]
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[au]
Reduction of [au] [a:].
e.g. Gower [gau] [ga:]
Spelling:
-our: sour, flour, hour
-ower: tower, power, flower
-ow + vowel letter in unstressed position: towel, vowel

Result of reduction of triphthongs: homophones

e.g.
shire, shower, shah will be pronounced as [a:]
tyre, tower, tar will be pronounced as [ta:].

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5.3. THE RATIO BETWEEN THE ENGLISH AND THE ROMANIAN

VOWEL PHONEMES
Simple vowels

Diphthongs

Triphthongs

Total

Romanian

22

10

39

English

12

25

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