Monopthong, Dipthong and Tripthong

 

Monophthong, diphthong, and triphthong are three types of sound systems in phonetics practice.

In phonetics and language learning, monophthongs play like fundamental building blocks. Diphthong is important in accent, pronunciation, and speech clarity. Triphthong reveals how complex vowel sounds function in natural speech. It is also important for accurate pronunciation

Monophthong:

Monophthong is a pure vowel or vowel sound in which there is a continuous vibration of the vocal folds, and produces a single, unchanging sound. When we pronounce a monophthong, our tongue and mouth remain relatively steady – there’s no glide or shift to another vowel sound.

In English phonetics, the monophthongs are divided into short and long vowels. The table of monophthongs is given below with examples and vowel sounds.

IPA Symbol	Example Word	Vowel Sound
/iː/	See, me	long "ee" sound
/ɪ/	bit, sit	short "i" sound
/e/	bed, head	short "e" sound
/æ/	cat, hat	short "a" sound
/ɑː/	father, car	long "ah" sound
/ʌ/	cup, luck	short "u" sound
/uː/	food, blue	long "oo" sound
/ɒ/	hot pot (UK)	short "o" sound
/ɔː/	law, saw (UK)	long "aw" sound

 

Key characteristics:

·       Single sound

·       As it is produced by a continuous vibration, sound quality remains stable.

Monophthongs can be distinguished from each other by identifying which part of the tongue is involved (front, central, and back).

Diphthong:

A diphthong is a complex vowel sound- a combination of two pure vowel sounds. When we produce diphthongs, our vocal organs move from one vocalic position to another, which is known as glide. Therefore, sounds which consist of a movement or glide from one vowel to another are called diphthongs. Diphthongs are apposite to monophthongs or pure vowels. In length, they are similar to long vowels. Diphthongs are associated with stress, and all of them are tense. The most important thing to remember about diphthongs is that the first part is much longer and stronger than the second part. The last part of English diphthongs must not be pronounced too strongly. There are eight diphthongs in English.

IPA Symbol	Common Sound	Example Words
/aɪ/	“eye”	my ride, sky
/eɪ/	“ay”	day, say, late
/ɔɪ/	“oy”	boy, coin, toy
/aʊ/	“ow”	now, out, cow
/əʊ/ (UK) /oʊ/ (US)	“oh”	go, no, home
/ɪə/ (UK)	“ear”	ear, idea, fear
/eə/ (UK)	“air”	care, there, hair
/ʊə/ (UK)	“poor”	pure, tour, cure

 Key characteristics:

·       The tongue and mouth move from the starting vowel toward the ending vowel

·       Even though two vowel qualities are involved, a diphthong stays within one syllable

·       By using the correct diphthong, we can distinguish the meaning. For example: “mate” vs “met”.

Triphthongs:

Triphthong is the most complicated type of vowel sound. It is a single-syllable vowel sound that smoothly glides through three distinct vowel positions. It is a blend of three vowel sounds pronounced as one continuous sound. A triphthong takes three glides. A glide from one vowel to another, then to a third one, which are produced very rapidly and uninterruptedly.

IPA (British English)	Word Example	Sound Flow
/aɪə/	fire, tire	a → i → ə
/aʊə/	power, hour	a → ʊ → ə
/eɪə/	player, layers	e → ɪ → ə
/əʊə/	lower, shower	ə → ʊ → ə
/ɔɪə/	loyal, royal	ɔ → ɪ → ə

 

Triphthong  is useful in syllable structure, stress patterns and understand the fluid nature of spoken language or natural speech.