Page 101 - DENG504_LINGUISTICS

Unit 8: Diphthongs and Its Phonetic Transcription

8.1 Types of Diphthongs Notes

Falling and rising

Falling (or descending) diphthongs start with a vowel quality of higher prominence (higher pitch or
volume) and end in a semivowel with less prominence, like [a I ] in eye, while rising (or ascending)
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diphthongs begin with a less prominent semivowel and end with a more prominent full vowel,
similar to the [ja] in yard. (Note that “falling” and “rising” in this context do not refer to vowel height;
the terms “opening” and “closing” are used instead. See below.) The less prominent component in
the diphthong may also be transcribed as an approximant, thus [aj] in eye and [ja] in yard. However,
when the diphthong is analysed as a single phoneme, both elements are often transcribed with vowel
letters (/ aI /, / Ia /). Note also that semivowels and approximants are not equivalent in all treatments,
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and in the English and Italian languages, among others, many phoneticians do not consider rising
combinations to be diphthongs, but rather sequences of approximant and vowel. There are many
languages (such as Romanian) that contrast one or more rising diphthongs with similar sequences of
a glide and a vowel in their phonetic inventory. (see semivowel for examples).
Closing, opening, and centering

In closing diphthongs, the second element is more close than the first (e.g. [ai]); in opening diphthongs,
the second element is more open (e.g. [ia]). Closing diphthongs tend to be falling ([ ai ]), and opening
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diphthongs are generally rising ([ ia ]), as open vowels are more sonorous and therefore tend to be
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more prominent. However, exceptions to this rule are not rare in the world’s languages. In Finnish,
for instance, the opening diphthongs / ie / and uo / are true falling diphthongs, since they begin
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louder and with higher pitch and fall in prominence during the diphthong.
A third, rare type of diphthong that is neither opening nor closing is height-harmonic diphthongs,
with both elements at the same vowel height. These were particularly characteristic of Old English,
which had diphthongs such as / F Y/, / eo /.
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A centering diphthong is one that begins with a more peripheral vowel and ends with a more central
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one, such as [ ) ], [ ) ], and [ ) ] in Received Pronunciation or [ ic ] and [ uc ] in Irish. Many centering
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diphthongs are also opening diphthongs ( ic ], [ uc ]).
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diphthongs may contrast in how far they open or close. For example, Samoan contrasts low-to-mid
with low-to-high diphthongs:
• ‘ai [§ ai ] ‘probably’
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• ‘ae [§ ae ] ‘but’
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• ‘auro [§ auro ] ‘gold’
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• ao [ ao ] ‘a cloud’
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Length
Languages differ in the length of diphthongs, measured in terms of morae. In languages with
phonemically short and long vowels, diphthongs typically behave like long vowels, and are
pronounced with a similar length. In languages with only one phonemic length for pure vowels,
however, diphthongs may behave like pure vowels. For example, in Icelandic, both monophthongs
and diphthongs are pronounced long before single consonants and short before most consonant
clusters.

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