Diphthong

In phonetics, a diphthong is a vowel combination usually involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel to another, often interpreted by listeners as a single vowel sound or phoneme. While "pure" vowels, or monophthongs, are said to have one target tongue position, diphthongs have a moving tongue. Pure vowels are represented in phonetic script by one symbol: English "seem" as [si:m], for example. Diphthongs are represented by two symbols, for example English "same" as [seim], where the two vowel symbols are intended to represent approximately the beginning and ending tongue positions.

Diphthongs in English:

[au] as in house
[ai] as in kite
[ei] as in same
[@u] as in hope
[oi] as in join. (see SAMPA chart for English for more)

Diphthongs in Spanish:

[ja] as in comedia
[je] as in tierra
[jo] as in diÃÂÃÂ³
[wa] as in guante
[we] as in fuego
[wi] as in pingÃÂÃÂ¼ino
[aj] as in hay
[ej] as in rey
[oj] as in hoy
[aw] as in Jauja

Diphthongs in French:

[wa] and in roi
[wi] as in oui
[Hi] as in huit
[ja~] as in bien
[jE] as in AriÃÂÃÂ¨ge

Diphthongs in German:

[aj] as in Reich
[aw] as in Maus
[oj] as in neu

Diphthong

See also