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Diphthong

In phonetics, a '''diphthong''', or , (also '''gliding vowel''') (from Ancient Greek|Greek , "diphthongos", literally "two sounds" or "two tones") is a contour (linguistics)|contour vowel—that is, a unitary vowel that changes vowel quality|quality during its pronunciation, or "glides", with a glissando|smooth movement of the tongue from one articulation to another, as in the English words ''eye, boy,'' and ''cow.'' This contrasts with "pure" vowels, or ''monophthongs,'' where the tongue is held still, as in the English word ''papa.''The tongue will move at the boundaries even of monophthongs, because this is necessary for the pronunciation of adjacent consonants. However, the description given here is correct for the middle of the vowel, which is most prominent to the human ear. Monophthongs can be pronounced in isolation without any movement of the tongue, which is not possible for diphthongs. More technically, monophthongs are said to have one target tongue position, diphthongs two, and triphthongs three. Diphthongs often form when separate vowels are run together in rapid speech. However, there are also unitary diphthongs, as in the English examples above, which are heard by listeners as single vowel sounds (phonemes).SIL International definition of 'Diphthong' accessed 17 January 2008 In the help:IPA|International Phonetic Alphabet, pure vowels are transcribed with one letter, as in English "sum" . Diphthongs are transcribed with two letters, as in English "eye" or "same" . The two vowel symbols are chosen to represent the beginning and ending positions of the tongue, though this can be only approximate. The diacritic is placed under the less prominent component to show that it is part of a diphthong rather than a separate vowel, though it is sometimes left off in languages such as English, where there is not likely to be any confusion. (That is, in precise transcription, represents two vowels in hiatus (linguistics)|hiatus, as found for example in Hawaiian language|Hawaiian and Japanese language|Japanese, or in the English word "naïve", not a diphthong as in English "knives").

Types of diphthongs

Falling (or '''descending''') diphthongs start with a vowel quality of higher prominence (phonetics)|prominence (higher pitch or louder) and end in a semivowel with less prominence, like in "eye", while '''rising''' (or '''ascending''') diphthongs begin with a less prominent semivowel and end with a more prominent full vowel, like in "yard". The less prominent component in the diphthong may also be transcribed as an approximant, thus in "eye" and in "yard". However, when the diphthong is analysed as a single phoneme, both elements are often transcribed with vowel letters (, ). Note also that semivowels and approximants are not equivalent in all treatments, and in the English and Italian languages, among others, many phoneticians do not consider rising combinations to be diphthongs, but rather sequences of approximant and vowel. There are many languages (such as #Romanian|Romanian) that contrast one or more rising diphthongs with similar sequences of a glide and a vowel in their phonetic inventory. In '''closing''' diphthongs, the second element is more close vowel|close than the first (e.g. ); in '''opening''' diphthongs, more open vowel|open (e.g. ). Closing diphthongs tend to be falling (), and opening diphthongs are generally rising (), because open vowels are more sonority|sonorous and therefore tend to be more prominent. However, exceptions to this rule are not rare in the world's languages. In Finnish phonology|Finnish, for instance, the opening diphthongs and are true falling diphthongs, since they begin louder and with higher pitch and fall in prominence during the diphthong. A '''centering''' diphthong is one that begins with a more peripheral vowel and ends with a more central one, such as , , and in Received Pronunciation or and in Irish language|Irish. Many centering diphthongs are also opening diphthongs (, ). Some languages contrast '''short''' and '''long''' diphthongs, the latter usually being described as having a long first element. Languages that contrast three quantities in diphthongs are extremely rare, but not unheard of: Northern Sami is known to contrast '''long''', '''short''' and '''finally stressed''' diphthongs, the last of which are distinguished by a long second element.

Diphthongs in various languages

Catalan

Catalan phonology|Catalan possesses a number of phonetic diphthongs, all of which begin or end in or . They include: In addition, phonetic diphthongs are formed in Brazilian Portuguese by the L-vocalization|vocalization of in the syllable coda with words like ''sol'' ('sun') and ''sul'' ('south') as well as by yodization of vowels preceding in words like ''arroz'' ('rice') and ''mas'' ('but').

Romanian

Romanian phonology|Romanian builds its descending diphthongs using two semivowels and its ascending diphthongs using four. falling
- as in ''mai''
- as in ''dau''
- as in ''lei''
- as in ''leu''
- as in ''mii'' (no vocalic glide, but still a diphthong)
- as in ''fiu''
- as in ''goi''
- as in ''nou''
- as in ''pui''
- as in ''răi''
- as in ''rău''
- as in ''câine''
- as in ''râu''rising
- as in ''stea''
- as in ''George''
- as in ''iapă''
- as in ''fier''
- as in ''chior''
- as in ''iubit''
- as in ''oameni''
- as in ''ziua''
- as in ''două''

Spanish

Spanish phonology|Spanish has six falling diphthongs and eight rising diphthongs. In addition, during fast speech, sequences of vowels in hiatus become diphthongs wherein one becomes non-syllabic (unless they are the same vowel, in which case they fuse together) as in ''poeta'' ('poet') and ''maestro'' ('teacher'). The phonemic diphthongs are:falling
- as in ''rey'' ('king')
- as in ''aire'' ('air')
- as in ''hoy'' ('today')
- as in ''neutro'' ('neutral')
- as in ''pausa'' ('break')
- as in ''bou'' ('Seine fishing|seine fishing') rising
- as in ''tierra'' ('earth')
- as in ''hacia'' ('towards')
- as in ''radio'' ('radio')
- as in ''viuda'' ('widow')
- as in ''fuimos'' ('we went')
- as in ''fuego'' ('fire')
- as in ''cuadro'' ('picture')
- as in ''cuota'' ('quota')

Thai

In addition to vowel nuclei following and , Thai phonology|Thai has three diphthongs:
- * *

Yiddish

Yiddish phonology|Yiddish has three diphthongs:
- as in פּליטה ('refugee' f.)
- as in נײַן ('nine')
- as in אופֿן ('way') Diphthongs may reach a higher target position (towards ) in situations of coarticulatory phenomena or when words with such vowels are being emphasized.

References

Bibliography

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- Category:Vowels Category:Phonetics nds-nl:Tweeklaank simple:Diphthong

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