Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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.
Ough is a four-letter sequence, a tetragraph, used in English orthography and notorious for its unpredictable pronunciation. [1] It has at least eight pronunciations in North American English and nine in British English , and no discernible patterns exist for choosing among them.
The difference in the vowels results from the alternation (in the Proto-Indo-European language) of the vowel e with the vowel o or with no vowel. To cite a few other examples of Indo-European ablaut, English has a certain class of verbs, called strong verbs, in which the vowel changes to indicate a different grammatical tense-aspect.
Stress is a prominent feature of the English language, both at the level of the word (lexical stress) and at the level of the phrase or sentence (prosodic stress).Absence of stress on a syllable, or on a word in some cases, is frequently associated in English with vowel reduction – many such syllables are pronounced with a centralized vowel or with certain other vowels that are described as ...
In the approach used by the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, Wells [81] claims that consonants syllabify with the preceding rather than following vowel when the preceding vowel is the nucleus of a more salient syllable, with stressed syllables being the most salient, reduced syllables the least, and full unstressed vowels ("secondary stress ...
Another type of spelling characteristic is related to word origin. For example, when representing a vowel, y represents the sound /ɪ/ in some words borrowed from Greek (reflecting an original upsilon), whereas the letter usually representing this sound in non-Greek words is the letter i .
In English, this happens most often with vowels, although not exclusively. See phonemic differentiation for more information. Due to the wide geographic distribution of the English language and the number and variety of speakers, there are phonemic pairs which are distinguished in some accents and varieties, but considered identical in others.
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.