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In phonetics, a triphthong (UK: / ˈ t r ɪ f θ ɒ ŋ, ˈ t r ɪ p θ ɒ ŋ / TRIF-thong, TRIP-thong, US: /-θ ɔː ŋ /-thawng) (from Greek τρίφθογγος triphthongos, lit. ' with three sounds ' or ' with three tones ') is a monosyllabic vowel combination involving a quick but smooth movement of the articulator from one vowel quality to another that passes over a third.
A monophthong (/ ˈ m ɒ n ə f θ ɒ ŋ, ˈ m ɒ n ə p-/ MON-əf-thong, MON-əp-; from Ancient Greek μονόφθογγος (monóphthongos) 'one sound', [1] from μόνος (mónos) 'single' and φθόγγος (phthóngos) 'sound') is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at only beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of ...
Monophthongization is a sound change by which a diphthong becomes a monophthong, a type of vowel shift. It is also known as ungliding , [ 1 ] [ 2 ] as diphthongs are also known as gliding vowels. In languages that have undergone monophthongization, digraphs that formerly represented diphthongs now represent monophthongs.
ui sometimes represented the diphthong /ui̯/, as in cui listen ⓘ and huic. [27] The diphthong ei mostly had changed to ī by the classical epoch; ei remained only in a few words such as the interjection hei. If there is a tréma above the second vowel, both vowels are pronounced separately: aë [ä.ɛ], aü [a.ʊ], eü [e.ʊ] and oë [ɔ.ɛ].
Narrow diphthongs are the ones that end with a vowel which on a vowel chart is quite close to the one that begins the diphthong, for example Northern Dutch [eɪ], [øʏ] and [oʊ]. Wide diphthongs are the opposite – they require a greater tongue movement, and their offsets are farther away from their starting points on the vowel chart.
In a falling diphthong the most common second elements are /i̯/ or /u̯/ but other combinations such as idea /iˈdɛa̯/, trae /ˈtrae̯/ may also be interpreted as diphthongs. [19] Combinations of /j w/ with vowels are often labelled diphthongs, allowing for combinations of /j w/ with falling diphthongs to be called triphthongs.
In Old English, two forms of harmonic vowel breaking occurred: breaking and retraction and back mutation.. In prehistoric Old English, breaking and retraction changed stressed short and long front vowels i, e, æ to short and long diphthongs spelled io, eo, ea when followed by h or by r, l + another consonant (short vowels only), and sometimes w (only for certain short vowels): [3]
Although the Old English diphthongs merged into monophthongs, Middle English began to develop a new set of diphthongs.Many of these came about through vocalization of the palatal approximant /j/ (usually from an earlier /ʝ/) or the labio-velar approximant /w/ (sometimes from an earlier voiced velar fricative [ɣ]), when they followed a vowel.