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A diphthong (/ ˈ d ɪ f θ ɒ ŋ, ˈ d ɪ p-/ DIF-thong, DIP-; [1] from Ancient Greek δίφθογγος (díphthongos) 'two sounds', from δίς (dís) 'twice' and φθόγγος (phthóngos) 'sound'), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. [2]
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.
The long diphthongs /ɛːu̯ aːu̯ ɔːu̯/ occurred rarely. [41] The diphthongs /ei ou yi/ changed to /eː uː yː/ in the early Classical period in most cases, but /ei yi/ remained before vowels. In the tables below, the diphthongs that were monophthongized in most cases are preceded by an asterisk, and the rarer diphthongs are in parentheses.
English phonology is the system of speech sounds used in spoken English. Like many other languages, English has wide variation in pronunciation , both historically and from dialect to dialect . In general, however, the regional dialects of English share a largely similar (but not identical) phonological system.
The sound /ɪə/ is usually pronounced as a diphthong (or disyllabically [iːə], like CURE) only in open syllables. In closed syllables, it is distinguished from /ɪ/ primarily by length [6] [7] and from /iː/ by the significant onset in the latter. /e/ tends to be higher than the corresponding vowel in General American or RP.
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].
Length distinctions were eliminated in these diphthongs, yielding diphthongs /ai, ɛi, ei, au, ɛu, eu, iu, ɔu, ou/ plus /ɔi, ui/ borrowed from French. Middle English breaking: Diphthongs also formed by the insertion of a glide /w/ or /j/ (after back and front vowels, respectively) preceding /x/. Mergers of new diphthongs:
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]