Diphthong
Try reading the following words out loud: boy, toy, coin.
Do you notice anything about the vowel sound? You should be able to hear two different
vowel sounds in one syllable – these are called diphthongs.
This article will introduce diphthongs, provide a list of all the diphthongs in English,
explain the different types of diphthongs, and, finally, explain the differences between
monophthongs and diphthongs.
Diphthong Vowel Definition
Definition
A diphthong is a vowel that contains two different vowel sounds in one syllable.
Diphthongs are contrasted with monophthongs, which are singular pure vowel
sounds.
The word diphthong comprises di, which means ‘two’ in Greek, and phthong, which
means ‘sound’. Therefore, diphthong means two sounds.
Diphthongs are gliding vowels as one vowel sound glides into the next. The first vowel is
usually longer and stronger than the second one in the English language.
Example
/ɔɪ/ is a diphthong. It is the ‘oi’ sound in words such as boy /bɔɪ/, toy /tɔɪ/, or coin
/kɔɪn/.
Try saying the previous three words slowly. When creating the vowel sound, do you
notice how your lips make both a rounded shape and a spread wide shape? Also,
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see how your lips don’t touch when changing from one mouth shape to
another, demonstrating how one vowel slides glides into another.
Careful! Just because a word has two vowels next to each other does not mean it will produce
a diphthong sound. For example, the word feet /fiːt/ doesn't have a diphthong but contains the
monophthong /iː/ (the longer e sound).
List of Diphthongs
There are eight different diphthongs in the English language. They are:
/eɪ/ as in late (/leɪt/) or gate (/geɪt/)
/ɪə/ as in dear (/dɪə/) or fear (/fɪə/)
/eə/ as in fair (/feə/) or care (/keə/)
/ʊə/ as in sure (/ʃʊə/) or cure (/kjʊə/)
/əʊ/ as in globe (/ˈgləʊb/) or show (/ʃəʊ/)
/ɔɪ/ as in join (/ʤɔɪn/) or coin (/kɔɪn/)
/aɪ/ as in time (/taɪm/) or rhyme (/raɪm/)
/aʊ/ as in cow (/kaʊ/) or how (/haʊ/)
As you can see, diphthongs are represented by two separate symbols, which highlight
the two different vowel sounds. We use these symbols (found in the International
Phonetic Alphabet or the English phonemic alphabet) to transcribe diphthongs.
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Example
The word chair is transcribed as /ʧeə/. We can see that the diphthong /eə/ falls at the
end of the word.
Are you struggling to hear the two separate vowel sounds in these words? Don’t worry!
Diphthongs might seem new and alien to you because native English speakers tend to
shorten diphthongs into singular vowel sounds. Try pronouncing the previous words as if
you were the Queen of England. Can you hear the glide now?
The words "how now brown cow" all have the diphthong /aʊ/.
Different Types of Diphthong Vowels
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Linguists have divided the eight diphthongs into different categories according to the
sound they produce and how they are pronounced. These categories are falling and
rising diphthongs, opening, closing, centring diphthongs, and wide and narrow
diphthongs.
Let’s have a look at these categories in detail.
Falling and rising diphthongs
Falling diphthongs are diphthongs that begin with a higher pitch or volume and end
with a lower pitch or volume. The most common falling diphthong is /aɪ/ found in
words like eye, flight and kite. Here the first vowel sound is the syllable-building
sound.
Rising diphthongs are the opposite of falling diphthongs. They begin with a lower
pitch or volume and end with a higher pitch or volume. The rising diphthong sound
is created in English when a vowel follows a semivowel. The semivowels are
/j/ and /w/. There are no specific phonemic representations (e.g. /əʊ/) for rising
diphthongs, as they are usually analysed as a sequence of two phonemes (e.g.
/wiː/). The rising diphthong sound can be heard in words like yell (/jel/), weed
(/wiːd/), and walk (/wɔːk/).
Opening, closing, and centring diphthongs
Opening diphthongs have a second vowel sound that is more ‘open’ than the first. An
‘open vowel’ is a vowel sound pronounced with the tongue as low down in the mouth as
possible (e.g. /a/ in cat).
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Example
An example of an opening diphthong is /ia/ – the ‘yah’ sound in Spanish found in
words like hacia. Opening diphthongs are usually rising diphthongs, as open vowels
are more prominent than closed vowels.
Closing diphthongs have a second vowel sound that is more ‘closed’ than the first. A
closed vowel is pronounced with the tongue in a much higher position in the mouth
(e.g. /iː/ in see).
Example
Examples of closing diphthongs are: /ai/ found in time, /əʊ/ found in globe, and /eɪ/
found in late. Typically, closing diphthongs are falling diphthongs.
Centring diphthongs have a second vowel that is mid-central, i.e. it is pronounced with
the tongue in a neutral or central position. The mid-central vowel sound is also known as
the schwa (/ə/). Any diphthong ending with the schwa sound can be considered a
centring diphthong, e.g. /ɪə/ found in dear, /eə/ found in fair, and /ʊə/ found in cure.
Wide and narrow diphthongs
Wide diphthongs require a large tongue movement from the first vowel sound to the
second vowel sound. In wide diphthongs, the sound difference between the two vowel
sounds will be more prominent.
Example
Examples include: /aɪ/ found in time and /aʊ/ found in cow.
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Narrow diphthongs require a smaller movement from one vowel to the other. In narrow
diphthongs, the two vowel sounds will sound similar and will be pronounced in a similar
way.
Example
/eɪ/ found in day
Monophthongs and Diphthongs
A monophthong is a single vowel sound within a syllable.
Example
For example, the /ɪ/ in sit, the /u:/ in cool, and the /ɔ:/ in all.
Monophthongs are also called pure vowels, as their pronunciation is limited to one vowel
sound. On the other hand, diphthongs contain two vowel sounds in one syllable and are
sometimes called gliding vowels as the pronunciation of one vowel sound ‘glides’ to
another.
Remember, just because two vowels appear next to each other in a word doesn’t mean a
diphthong is created.
Example
Meat (/miːt/) – Here, two vowels appear next to each other, but they create the single
vowel sound /iː/ - a monopthong pronounced like the long ‘ee’ sound.
Time (/taɪm/) – Here, no vowels appear next to each other, but the word is
pronounced with the diphthong /aɪ/.
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Diphthong - Key Takeaways
A diphthong is a vowel that contains two different vowel sounds in one syllable.
Diphthongs are gliding vowels, as the first vowel sound glides into the next.
In the English language, there are eight diphthongs.
Diphthongs are categorised in terms of how they sound and how they are
pronounced. These categories are: rising and falling diphthongs, opening,
closing, centring diphthongs, and narrow and wide diphthongs.
Diphthongs are contrasted with monophthongs, which are pure vowel sounds.
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