This document discusses diphthongs in English pronunciation. It defines a diphthong as a glide from one vowel sound to another within a single syllable. It identifies the 8 main diphthongs in English as /aɪ/, /eɪ/, /ɔɪ/, /aʊ/, /ɪə/, /eə/, /ʊə/, and /ɔɪ/. Each diphthong is exemplified with words containing that sound. The document also briefly discusses schwa sounds and how vowels are affected by following the letter R.

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DIPHTONGS
PRONUNCIATION
By: Tira Nur Fitria M.Pd
tiranurfitria@gmail.com

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DIPHTONGS
A diphthong is a glide from one vowel
sound to another within a single syllable. A
diphthong is a long vowel sound made by
gliding from one position of the mouth to
another within the same syllable.
Depending on your accent, you
may use up to 8 diphthongs in English
pronunciation.
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1. /a /ɪ
/a / is generally spelt withɪ
‘i’ like in LIKE, LIE, RIGHT, HIGH,
HEIGHT and TIME.
It’s also spelt with ‘y’ as in
TYPE,CRY, BUY, EYE & MY.
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2. /e /ɪ
/e / is generally spelt with ‘a’ɪ
like MAKE, BRAIN, RAIN,
PLAY, STAY.
Others spelt with an ‘e’ like
EIGHT,THEY, GREAT and
STEAK.
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3. / /əʊ
/ə / is generally spelt with ‘a’ like anʊ
‘o’ like in GO, LOW, SHOW, LOAN,
BOAT, TOE and SO, SHOULDER.
Though some other spellings can
occur like SEW.
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4. /a /ʊ
/a / is what you say when somethingʊ
hurts: OW!
It’s normally spelt OU like in ROUND,
LOUD, ABOUT & MOUSE.
Others like in “OW like in BROWN,
COW, ALLOW & HOW.
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5. /e /ə
/eə/ usually the sound is found in
words with combinations of AR like
PAIR, STARE, THERE, AIR,
AEROPLANE, SHARE, RARE, PEAR
& BEAR.
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6. / //ɪə
/ ə/ is generally spelt with ‘e’ and ‘r’ likeɪ
EAR, CAREER, HERE, DEER, WEIRD,
NEAR & YEAR.
It’s found in words without ‘r’ too like
IDEA.
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7. / /ɔɪ
/ / is what you say to grabɔɪ
someone’s attention: OY!
It’s found in words spelt OY like TOY,
BOY, TOY, NOISE, VOICE &
ANNOY.
It’s also in words spelt with OI like
FOIL & COIN.
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8. / /ʊə
/ ə/ is usually found in the wordsʊ
like: tour, pure, poor, endure
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English has 8 diphthongs.
Centering diphthong:
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Centering diphthong:
1. three (3) ending in ‘ ’ : , e ,ə ɪə ə ʊə
Closing diphthong
2. three (3) ending in ‘ ’: e , a ,ɪ ɪ ɪ ɔɪ
3. two (2) ending in ‘ ’: , aʊ əʊ ʊ

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Examples:
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• : beard, weird, fierce, ear, beer, tearɪə
• e : aired, cairn, scarce, bear, hair,ə
• : moored, tour, lure, sure, pureʊə
• e : paid, pain, face, shade, age, wait, taste, paperɪ
• a : tide, time, nice, buy, bike, pie, eye, kite, fineɪ
• : void, loin, voice, oil, boil, coin, toy, Royɔɪ
• : load, home, most, bone, phone, boat, bowləʊ
• a : loud, gown, house, cow, bow, brow, grouseʊ

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“
Other English Vowel Sounds
(Schwa or R-Controlled)
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Any vowel in an unaccented syllable has a
neutral or “schwa” /ə/ sound: Examples: the ‘a’
in above, or approve, the ‘e’ in accident, camera or
mathematics, the ‘i’ in family or officer, the ‘o’ in
freedom or purpose, or the ‘u’ in industry or
succeed.
if a vowel is followed by R, it changes in quality,
and is neither long nor short. (ER, IR, and UR are
often -- though not always--the same sound.)

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Examples with phonetic symbols:
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•/ r/ɑ -- arm, car, charge, dark, farm, start
•/ ər/ɛ -- air, aware, bare/bear, hair, spare, tear (pull apart
paper or fabric), there, very, where
•/ ər/ɪ -- beer, ear, hear/here, near, tear (from crying)
•/ r/ɜ -- bird, burn, first, fur, herd, earth, service, sir, third,
thirty, turn, urgent, worse
•/ər/ -- baker, better, bigger, doctor, letter, smaller,
summer
•/ r/ɔ -- for, important, more, north, or

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REFERENCES
https://pronunciationstudio.com/pronunciation-guide-diphthong-vowel-sounds/
http://www.english-efl.com/english-diphthongs-and-triphthongs/
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