CHAPTER 3.2 - Diphthongs and Triphthongs

BBC pronunciation runs a big quantity of diphthongs described as sounds which entail a movement or glide from one vowel to other one. Diphthongs are considered alike to long vowels when talking about length. Diphthongs have a main characteristic: their first part is much longer and stronger than the second par, for example in the word “eye”. In total, there are eight diphthongs, three of them are centring (their trajectory goes from close and open positions to the central part of the oral cavity), the other three are closing (their trajectory goes from the central part of the oral cavity to close) and two of them glide towards U and the tongue moves through the roof of the mouth to produce the sounds.

Triphthongs are the most complex English sounds to produce and to recognize. “A triphthong is glide from one vowel to another and then to a third, all produced rapidly and without interruption” (Roach, 2009). They are composed unsing the five closing diphthongs and adding the schwua sound at the end.