NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Falling diphthongs

In phonetics, a diphthong (Greek δίφθογγος, "diphthongos", literally "with two sounds") is a vowel combination in a single syllable 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 two target tongue positions. Pure vowels are represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet by one symbol: English "sum" as [səm], for example. Diphthongs are represented by two symbols, for example English "same" as [seɪm], where the two vowel symbols are intended to represent approximately the beginning and ending tongue positions. Phonetics (from the Greek word Ï†Ï‰Î½Î®, phone = sound/voice) is the study of sounds (voice). ... Listen to this article Â· (info) This audio file was created from the revision dated 2005-07-18, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... Glissando (plural: glissandi) is a musical term that refers to either a continuous sliding from one pitch to another (a true glissando), or an incidental scale played while moving from one melodic note to another (an effective glissando). ... In oral language, a phoneme is the theoretical basic unit of sound that can be used to distinguish words or morphemes; that is, changing a phoneme in a word produces either nonsense, or a different word with a different meaning. ... A monophthong (in Greek Î¼Î¿Î½ÏŒÏ†Î¸Î¿Î³Î³Î¿Ï‚ = single note) is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation; compare diphthong. ... The International Phonetic Alphabet. ...

Falling diphthongs start with a higher vowel, e.g., [iə], while rising diphthongs end with a higher vowel, e.g., [ai]. In Closing diphthongs, the second element is closer than the first; in opening diphthongs, more opened. A centering diphthong is one that begins with a more peripheral vowel and ends with a more central one, such as [ɪə], [ɛə], and [ʊə] in RP or [iə] and [uə] in Irish. Some languages contrast short and long diphthongs. In Portuguese, diphthongs are divided, like the vowels, in two classes: oral and nasal. Listen to this article Â· (info) This audio file was created from the revision dated 2005-07-18, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... Listen to this article Â· (info) This audio file was created from the revision dated 2005-07-18, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... Received Pronunciation (RP) is a form of pronunciation of the English language, sometimes defined as the educated spoken English of southeastern England. It is a dialect of English English often taught to non-native speakers, and represented in the pronunciation schemes of most British dictionaries. ...

The unstressed elements of the diphthongs may be transcribed as semivowels. However, when the whole diphthong is analysed as being one single phoneme, both elements are often transcribed as vowels. Semivowels (also called semiconsonants or glides) are vowels that function phonemically as consonants. ... In oral language, a phoneme is the theoretical basic unit of sound that can be used to distinguish words or morphemes; that is, changing a phoneme in a word produces either nonsense, or a different word with a different meaning. ...

1 English
2 Italian
3 French
4 Finnish
5 German
6 Portuguese
7 Northern Sami
8 Romanian
9 Spanish
10 See also

English

Diphthongs in the General American accent of English: General American is a notional accent of American English based on speech patterns common in the Midwest of the United States and those used by many American network television broadcasters. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

[aʊ] as in house
[aɪ] as in kite
[eɪ] as in same
[juː] as in few (This is phonemically analyzed as a sequence of a semivowel and a monophthong.)
[oʊ] as in tone
[ɔɪ] as in join

Diphthongs in the Received Pronunciation of British English: In oral language, a phoneme is the theoretical basic unit of sound that can be used to distinguish words or morphemes; that is, changing a phoneme in a word produces either nonsense, or a different word with a different meaning. ... Semivowels (also called semiconsonants or glides) are vowels that function phonemically as consonants. ... Received Pronunciation (RP) is a form of pronunciation of the English language, sometimes defined as the educated spoken English of southeastern England. It is a dialect of English English often taught to non-native speakers, and represented in the pronunciation schemes of most British dictionaries. ... British English (BrE) is a term used to differentiate the form of the written English language in the United Kingdom from other forms of the English language. ...

[əʊ] as in hope
[aʊ] as in house
[aɪ] as in kite
[eɪ] as in same
[juː] as in few (This is phonemically analyzed as a sequence of a semivowel and a monophthong.)
[ɔɪ] as in join
[ɪə] as in fear
[ɛə] as in hair (In modern pronunciation this is usually the long vowel [ɛː].)
[ʊə] as in poor

The latter three diphthongs also occur in the Boston accent. The Boston accent is the dialect of English not only of the city of Boston itself, but more generally of all of eastern Massachusetts; it shares much in common with the accents of New Hampshire and upper Maine. ...

(see International Phonetic Alphabet for English for more) Symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet as used for English. ...

Italian

Diphthongs in standard Italian:

falling diphthongs

[ai] as in avrai
[ei] as in dei (preposition)
[ɛi] as in direi
[oi] as in voi
[ɔi] as in poi
[au] as in pausa
[eu] as in Europa
[ɛu] as in feudo

rising diphthongs

[ja] as in piano
[je] as in schietto
[jɛ] as in piede
[jo] as in fiore
[jɔ] as in piove
[ju] as in più
[wa] as in guado
[we] as in quello
[wɛ] as in guerra
[wi] as in qui
[wo] as in tuorlo
[wɔ] as in nuoto

Other combinations (including [ui], [iu], [ii]) are generally considered hiatuses by grammarians; however they are often phonetically true diphthongs, such as in poetry and common speech. Note also that rising diphthongs are considered not true diphthongs by many phoneticians, but sequences of a consonant and a vowel. Hiatus in linguistics is the separate pronunciation of two adjacent vowels, sometimes with an intervening glottal stop. ... This article is about grammar from a linguistic perspective. ... Poetry (ancient Greek: Ï€Î¿Î¹ÎµÏ‰ (poieo) = I create) is traditionally a written art form (although there is also an ancient and modern poetry which relies mainly upon oral or pictorial representations) in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. ... Phonetics (from the Greek word phone = sound/voice) is the study of speech sounds (voice). ... Listen to this article Â· (info) This audio file was created from the revision dated 2005-07-20, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... Listen to this article Â· (info) This audio file was created from the revision dated 2005-07-18, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ...

French

Some diphthongs in French:

[wa] as in roi
[wi] as in oui
[ɥi] as in huit
[jɛ̃] as in bien
[jɛ] as in Ariège

Finnish

Diphthongs in Finnish

[ai] as in laiva
[ei] as in keinu
[oi] as in poika
[ui] as in uida
[yi] as in lyijy
[æi] as in äiti
[øi] as in öisin
[au] as in lauha
[eu] as in leuto
[iu] as in viulu
[ou] as in koulu
[ey] as in leyhyä
[iy] as in siistiytyä
[æy] as in täysi
[øy] as in löytää
[ie] as in kieli
[uo] as in suo
[yø] as in yö

German

Diphthongs in German:

[aɪ] as in Reich
[aʊ] as in Maus
[ɔʏ] as in neu

Some diphthongs in Bernese, a Swiss German dialect: Bernese German is the High Alemannic dialect spoken in the Swiss plateau (Mittelland) part of the canton of Bern and in some neighbouring regions. ... Swiss German (Schweizerdeutsch, SchwyzerdÃ¼tsch, SchwiizerdÃ¼tsch, SchwyzertÃ¼tsch, Schwizertitsch) is any of the Alemannic dialects spoken in Switzerland. ...

[iə] as in Bier 'beer'
[yə] as in Füess 'feet'
[uə] as in Schue 'shoes'
[ow] as in Stou 'holdup'
[aw] as in Stau 'stable'
[aːw] as in Staau 'steel'
[æw] as in Wäut 'world'
[æːw] as in wääut 'elects'
[ʊw] as in tschúud 'guilty'

Portuguese

Vowel combinations in Portuguese are divided into two groups: hiatus (hiato), a sequence of two random vowels, and diphthongs (ditongos), a sequence of a vowel and /i, u/, often called "semi-vowels". Just like the vowels, the diphthongs are divided into two subgroups: the oral diphthongs and the nasal diphtongs.

Diphthongs in Portuguese:

oral

[ai]
[ɐi] (in Lisbon)
[ei]
[ɛi]
[oi]
[ɔi]
[ui]
[au]
[eu]
[ɛu]
[iu] (parts of Brazil)
[ou] (Northen Portugal, parts of Brazil)

nasal

[ɐ̃ĩ]
[ẽĩ]
[õĩ]
[ũũ]
[ɐ̃ũ]

Northern Sami

Diphthongs in Northern Sami Northern Saami (also, Sámi or Sami, formerly Lapp) can be divided into a three major dialect groups: Torne, Finnmark and Sea Sami. ...

[eæ] as in leat
[ie] as in giella
[oa] as in boahtit
[uo] as in vuodjat

Romanian

Romanian builds its descending diphthongs using two semivowels and its ascending diphthongs using four. As there are no IPA symbols for semivocalic [e] and [o], in the following list the reversed circumflex accent was used to mark all semivowels. See also Romanian phonology. The three-letter acronym IPA can stand for any of the following (listed in alphabetical order): Independent Pilots Association India Pale Ale Institute of Public Affairs Institute for Propaganda Analysis International Phonetic Alphabet. ... The Romanian language has seven vowels and twenty-two consonants, including two semivowels, and . ...

Descending:

[aǐ] as in mai
[aǔ] as in dau
[eǐ] as in lei
[eǔ] as in leu
[iǐ] as in mii (no vocalic glide, but still a diphthong)
[iǔ] as in fiu
[oǐ] as in goi
[oǔ] as in nou
[uǐ] as in pui
[əǐ] as in răi
[əǔ] as in rău
[ɨǐ] as in câine
[ɨǔ] as in râu

Ascending:

[ěa] as in stea
[ěo] as in George
[ǐa] as in ziar
[ǐe] as in fier
[ǐo] as in chior
[ǐu] as in iubit
[ǒa] as in oameni
[ǔa] as in ziua
[ǔə] as in două

Spanish

Diphthongs in Spanish:

falling diphthongs

[ai] as in hay
[ei] as in rey
[oi] as in hoy
[ui] as in muy
[au] as in Jauja
[eu] as in feudo

rising diphthongs

[ja] as in comedia
[je] as in tierra
[jo] as in dio
[ju] as in ciudad
[wa] as in guante
[we] as in fuego
[wi] as in pingüino
[wo] as in ambiguo

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