Diphthongs The Sliding Vowels

A  diphthong occurs when there are two separate vowel sounds within the same syllable. Indeed, the word, diphthong comes from the Greek word  diphthongos,  which means  two sounds or two tones. It is also known as a gliding vowel, because the one sound literally glides into another. The words boy, because, raw, and even out are examples of words that contain diphthongs. Diphthongs can be composed of one or two vowels. Read on to learn a bit more about what diphthongs are, why theyre important in the English language, and even how to recognize them. The Primary Diphthongs There are eight primary diphthongs  in the English language, according to  TutorEd  and  Stack Exchange. They are: /eÉ ª/  as in  day, pay, say, lay/aÉ ª/  as in  sky, buy, cry, tie/É”É ª/  as in  boy, toy, coy  or the first syllable of  soya/É ªÃ‰â„¢/  as in  beer,  pier,  hear/eÉ™/  as in  bear,  pair, and  hair/ÊŠÉ™/  as in  tour, poor  or the first syllable of  tourist/əʊ/  as in  oh, no, so,  or  phone/aÊŠ/  as in all the words of How now brown cow! The opening letters (between the slash marks at the front) are dictionary symbols used by lexicographers. They are meant to serve as pronunciation guides, but you really only need to know them if you are looking up one of the words in a dictionary and wonder what these strange markings mean. The sound symbols can give you a simple way to distinguish between the eight diphthongs. A much simpler way to understand the basic pronunciations of the diphthongs, though, is to look at the example words in each of the eight diphthongs. Diphthongs in Sentences If youre teaching students about diphthongs, it might be helpful to provide sentences to illustrate. Doing so in the order the diphthongs  are listed in the previous section in a short, funny story can make the concept clearer for young learners. So, you might have:   After I get paid, today, I say Ill lay the money down on the table (eÉ ª). After I looked up in the sky,  I did cry after I bought a tie (aÉ ª). The boy with the toy proved to be rather coy (É”É ª). I hear that they drink lots of beer at the pier (É ªÃ‰â„¢).   The pair of bears I encountered in the woods made my hair stand on end (eÉ™). The tour provided a glimpse of the poor conditions in the country—but what did I know: I was just a tourist. (ÊŠÉ™). Oh, no!! Its so boring to talk on the phone (əʊ). Wow, now theres a very brown cow (aÊŠ).   You might also give students a  list of words with diphthongs  and have them make up their own sentences.   Diphthongsvs.Triphthongs There are blended sounds in English where vowels make three distinct sounds in a single syllable, called triphthongs. Some examples provided by  English EFL  include: /eÉ ªÃ‰â„¢/ as in layer, player/aÉ ªÃ‰â„¢/ as in lire, fire/É”É ªÃ‰â„¢/ as in loyal, royal/É™uÉ™/ as in lower, mower/auÉ™/ as in power, hour That extra, or third, symbol that indicates that these are triphthongs, É™, is a  phoneme  called a schwa and is roughly pronounced uh. For some added pronunciation practice, give your students a few sentences containing triphthongs, such as: The player had a great game for his team (eÉ ªÃ‰â„¢), but when he got home his house was on fire (aÉ ªÃ‰â„¢). Since he had been loyal to the royal court (É”É ªÃ‰â„¢), the king gave him a lower price for the new mower (É™uÉ™). Within an hour, he had the machine working at full power. Of course, you dont have to use sentences that rhyme, but often expressing new concepts in songs, rhymes and funny sentences can focus students attention and help them learn the concept.