Page 68 - DENG504_LINGUISTICS

Linguistics

Notes To describe the vowel sound we mention whether it is open or close, half-close or half-open, front
or back or central long or short, whether the tongue is tense or lax while the vowel is being
pronounced, and whether lips are spread, neutral, open rounded, or close rounded. All English
vowels are voiced. So, for every vowel, we must state that it is voiced.

5.3 Diphthongs

From the point of view of their quality, vowel sounds are of two types: monophthong and
diphthong. Monophthongs are pure vowels and diphthongs are gliding vowels. ‘A vowel that
does not change in quality’ may be called a monophthong; and a vowel sound with a continually
changing quality may be called a diphthong.
A pure vowel is one for which the organs of speech remain in a given position for an appreciable
period of time. A diphthong is a vowel sound consisting of a deliberate, i.e. intentional glide, the
organs of speech starting in the position of one vowel and immediately moving in the direction of
another vowel. A diphthong, moreover, consists of a single syllable—that is, the vowel-glide must
be performed with a single impulse of the breath; if there is more than one impulse of breath, the
ear perceives two separate syllables.
A diphthong, thus, always occupies one syllable. If two adjacent vowels form the nuclei of two
successive syllables, they are not a diphthong. For example the vowels in bay, boy, and buy are
diphthongs, but the vowels in doing are two different vowels since they belong to two different
syllables.
One end of the diphthong is generally more prominent than the other. Diphthongs are termed
‘decrescendo’ of FALLING if the first element is louder or more prominent than the second, and
‘crescendo’ or RISING if the second element is louder or more prominent than the first. All the
English diphthongs are falling diphthongs, because in them the first element is louder or more
prominent than the second element.
Diphthongs are represented in phonetic transcription by a sequence of two letters, the first showing
the position of the organs of speech at the beginning of the glide, the second their position at the
end. In the case of the ‘closing’ diphthongs the second letter indicates the point toward which
glide (movement) is made.
In English, for example, there are two kinds of diphthongs: the closing diphthongs and the centring
diphthongs. The closing diphthongs in English are:

FRONT CENTRAL BACK

i
i e u
ei e ou
e
v
c i

ai au
(THE CLOSING DIPHTHONGS IN ENGLISH)

Figure 5.2
/ei/as in/bei/(bay)
/ou/as in/bout (boat)
/ai/as in/bai (buy)
/au/as in/bau/(bough)
/ ] i/as in/b ] i (boy)

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