We are independent & ad-supported. We may earn a commission for purchases made through our links.
Advertiser Disclosure
Our website is an independent, advertising-supported platform. We provide our content free of charge to our readers, and to keep it that way, we rely on revenue generated through advertisements and affiliate partnerships. This means that when you click on certain links on our site and make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn more.
How We Make Money
We sustain our operations through affiliate commissions and advertising. If you click on an affiliate link and make a purchase, we may receive a commission from the merchant at no additional cost to you. We also display advertisements on our website, which help generate revenue to support our work and keep our content free for readers. Our editorial team operates independently of our advertising and affiliate partnerships to ensure that our content remains unbiased and focused on providing you with the best information and recommendations based on thorough research and honest evaluations. To remain transparent, we’ve provided a list of our current affiliate partners here.
Linguistics

Our Promise to you

Founded in 2002, our company has been a trusted resource for readers seeking informative and engaging content. Our dedication to quality remains unwavering—and will never change. We follow a strict editorial policy, ensuring that our content is authored by highly qualified professionals and edited by subject matter experts. This guarantees that everything we publish is objective, accurate, and trustworthy.

Over the years, we've refined our approach to cover a wide range of topics, providing readers with reliable and practical advice to enhance their knowledge and skills. That's why millions of readers turn to us each year. Join us in celebrating the joy of learning, guided by standards you can trust.

What are Diphthongs?

By Brendan McGuigan
Updated: May 23, 2024
Views: 249,442
Share

Diphthongs are types of vowels where two vowel sounds are connected in a continuous, gliding motion. They are often referred to as gliding vowels. Most languages have a number of diphthongs, although that number varies widely, from only one or two to fifteen or more.

A vowel is a specific type of sound, characterized by a lack of full obstruction to the air flow. Vowels can be contrasted with consonants, where there is such an obstruction. As air comes out when you are speaking a consonant, there is a build up of pressure as the air flow is constricted. When speaking a vowel, there is no built up pressure, the sound is simply shaped by the position of the tongue.

Vowels are generally characterized by three different criteria: the position of the tongue in the mouth relative to the roof of the mouth (height), the position of the tongue in either the front or back of the mouth (backness), and the shape of the lips as the vowel sound is being made (roundedness). There are other things that may characterize vowels, but they are not very common in English — things such as the position of the root of the tongue, for example, rarely affect English vowels, though they affect the vowels in many African languages.

When vowels come together, they may either be two distinct syllables, or may merge into one syllable. When they merge, they form what are known as diphthongs. If they stay separate they are simply two monophthongs. An example of two single syllable vowels can be seen in the word triage, in which the i and the a are both pronounced on their own. An example of a diphthong can be seen in the word mouse, in which the ou part of the word obviously consists of two distinct vowels, but there is no syllabic break between the two.

Diphthongs can usually be seen as having two distinct parts — the nucleus, and the off-glide. The nucleus of the diphthong is the vowel that is most stressed, and forms the center of the sound, while the off-glide is the vowel which seems to flow into or off of the nucleus vowel.

The three major diphthongs in Standard English, which are known as phonemic diphthongs, are ai, aw, and oy. All three of these diphthongs are very common, and many people simply think of them as single vowels in some contexts. For example, in the English word ride, the i would be transcribed phonetically as ai. Although it appears as a single letter in our writing, it actually consists of two vowels — if you say the word you should be able to hear the two. Similarly, the word how contains the diphthong aw at the end, and the word boy contains the diphthong oy.

Other diphthongs in Standard English are the ei sound in the word fame or the pronunciation of the letter a, and the ou sound in the word phone. Other languages have many more diphthongs aside from these, and other dialects of English may have more diphthongs as well. Languages such as Finnish have nearly twenty diphthongs, while the Received Pronunciation dialect of English has an extra five or so diphthongs not found in Standard English.

In addition to diphthongs and monophthongs, there are also what are called triphthongs. These are similar to diphthongs, but instead of moving simply from one vowel sound to another, a third sound is also added.

Share
Language & Humanities is dedicated to providing accurate and trustworthy information. We carefully select reputable sources and employ a rigorous fact-checking process to maintain the highest standards. To learn more about our commitment to accuracy, read our editorial process.
Discussion Comments
By anon336815 — On May 31, 2013

"ei" in fame? That would confuse anyone. The ay (long A) is a-e and the oy sound comes from o-i-e.Some linguists see diphthongs where there are none.

By orangey03 — On Jan 23, 2013

I've always found the diphthong definition confusing. It's supposed to relate to vowel sounds, yet you have 'w' and 'y' mixed in with them sometimes.

I would think a diphthong would be 'au' instead of 'aw' and 'oi' instead of 'oy,' since both of those would be pronounced the same. Grammar contains so many confusing rules!

By anon218174 — On Sep 28, 2011

It was really instructive.

By anon151842 — On Feb 11, 2011

would like to know why some diphthongs are physically joined together, such as the ae in leukemia and daemon.

By anon146399 — On Jan 26, 2011

can you differentiate between monophthongs and diphthongs?

By anon122028 — On Oct 26, 2010

would you please give me some examples for each diphthong?

By anon97481 — On Jul 19, 2010

are diphthongs the same as vowel digraphs?

By anon89758 — On Jun 12, 2010

as a filipino, and it's not difficult for me to say some diphthongs. but there are times that i had troubles in using them.

By anon89066 — On Jun 08, 2010

As a Turkish American, I liked this website. How I can lose my accent in English? What is the best way for this?

By anon34960 — On Jul 01, 2009

A ligature can be used to strangle a person, a diphthong cannot.

By anon29204 — On Mar 29, 2009

Can you give a clear description of the movements of the articulators and respiratory system in producing the diphthong 'ai'?

By glenCCC — On May 18, 2008

Sorry, I'm still confused... Can you please tell me the difference between Diphthongs and Phonograms? ... Some of these things seem to overlap ... Or is it a case where Diphthongs are a kind of member of the Phonogram family?

By brendan — On Apr 20, 2008

good question. a ligature is a visual phenomenon, whereas a diphthong has to do with the sound made. ligature is when two letter forms are joined in some way, but this doesn't necessarily indicate a different way of pronouncing those two letters (as with a diphthong), rather it is simply a visual nicety.

By anon11472 — On Apr 17, 2008

What are the differences between diphthong and ligatures?

Share
https://www.languagehumanities.org/what-are-diphthongs.htm
Copy this link
Language & Humanities, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.

Language & Humanities, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.