Diphthongs Traditional Classification

Diphthongs  Diphthongs have a prominent shift in resonance, usually in the form of an off-glide EX: boy, how, view  There’s a change in the adjustment of the vocal tract that takes place as diphthongs are produced Combination of 2 vowels –The initiating target is the first vowel –The terminating target is final vowel

Diphthongs  Tension – can go: tense to lax OR lax to lax, BUT never lax to tense  Advancement – can go: Front to front [  ] Front to back [  ] Back to back [  ] Back to front [  ]  Height – can go: mid to high low to high

Many phoneticians regard diphthongs as a combination of a vowel and glide (e.g., [  ] and [  ]) Therefore, they do not include diphthongs in their list of English sounds -dipthongs have glide features

American English Diphthongs  [  ] high, file  [  ]ouch, house, brown, cow  [  ]boy, toy  [  ] weigh, play  [  ]bow, go  [  ]use, youth, cute, view, unit

American English Diphthongs  [  ] Front to front; low to high; tense to lax  [  ] Front to back; low to high; tense to lax  [  ] Back to front; mid to high; lax to lax  [  ] Front to front; mid to high; tense to lax Vowel [e] takes on diphthongal traits when it is pronounced as a stressed sound in words like “play”, “weigh”, “bake”* If vowel is unstressed and short in duration, use [e]

American English Diphthongs  [  ] Back to back; mid to high; tense to lax Vowel [  ] takes on diphthongal traits when it is pronounced as a stressed sound in words like “bow”; “goat”*  [  ] Front to back; high to high; tense to tense

Centering Diphthongs  Tongue glides from stable vowel toward [  ]  [  ]  [  ]  [  ]  [  ]  [  ]

Centering Diphthongs  [  ] Tongue glides from the lower high-front position Beard, hear, steer, pier, spirit, period, year  [  ] Tongue glides from stable [  ] to [  ] Very, berry, wear, care, pair Variations: –[  ]: Mary, vary, carry –[  ]: they’re, wear, care

Centering Diphthongs  [  ] Off-glide from stable, low-back [  ] to central vowel position [  ] Art, heart, guard, are Variations: –[  ]: forest, forehead, foreign (more acceptable)

Centering Diphthongs  [  ] ~ [  ] Glides from back vowel [o] or [  ] to central [  ] Allophones Morning ~ mourning Horse ~ hoarse Or ~ oar

Centering Diphthongs  [  ] Glide from high back vowel [  ] to central [  ] pure, sure Variations: [  ] and [  ] often substituted for [  ] –[  ] ~ [  ]“sure” –[  ] ~ [  ]“cure” –[  ] ~ [  ]“your”