Diphthong

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In phonetics, a diphthong is a vowel combination usually involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel to another, often interpreted by listeners as a single vowel sound or phoneme. While "pure" vowels, or monophthongs, are said to have one target tongue position, diphthongs have a moving tongue. Pure vowels are represented in phonetic script by one symbol: English "seem" as [si:m], for example. Diphthongs are represented by two symbols, for example English "same" as [seim], where the two vowel symbols are intended to represent approximately the beginning and ending tongue positions.

Diphthongs in English:

• [au] as in house
• [ai] as in kite
• [ei] as in same
• [oU] as in hope
• [oi] as in join. (see SAMPA chart for English for more)

Diphthongs in British English (RP):

• [@u] as in hope
• [I@] as in fear
• [E@] as in hair
• [U@] as in poor
• [O@] as in more

Diphthongs in Spanish:

• [ja] as in comedia
• [je] as in tierra
• [jo] as in dio
• [wa] as in guante
• [we] as in fuego
• [wi] as in pingueino
• [aj] as in hay
• [ej] as in rey
• [oj] as in hoy
• [aw] as in Jauja

Diphthongs in French:

• [wa] as in roi
• [wi] as in oui
• [Hi] as in huit
• [ja~] as in bien
• [jE] as in Ariege

Diphthongs in German:

• [aj] as in Reich
• [aw] as in Maus
• [oj] as in neu

See also

• List of phonetics topics