What are the English monophthongs and diphthongs?


In English, monophthongs are vowel sounds that consist of a single, unchanging sound throughout their duration. There are 12 monophthongs in English:

  1. /i:/ as in "see"
  2. /ɪ/ as in "sit"
  3. /e/ as in "pen"
  4. /ɛ/ as in "bed"
  5. /æ/ as in "cat"
  6. /ʌ/ as in "cup"
  7. /ʊ/ as in "book"
  8. /u:/ as in "goose"
  9. /ɔ:/ as in "four"
  10. /ɑ:/ as in "car"
  11. /ə/ as in "sofa" (often called a "schwa" sound)
  12. /ɜ:/ as in "bird" (often called a "curled 'r'" sound)

Diphthongs, on the other hand, are vowel sounds that consist of two distinct sounds that glide from one to the other. In English, there are eight diphthongs:

  1. /eɪ/ as in "day"
  2. /aɪ/ as in "buy"
  3. /ɔɪ/ as in "boy"
  4. /aʊ/ as in "now"
  5. /oʊ/ as in "go"
  6. /ju:/ as in "you"
  7. /eə/ as in "air"
  8. /ɪə/ as in "ear"

Diphthongs are often written with two vowel letters, such as "ai" in "day" or "ou" in "now," but the actual sounds produced are a combination of two distinct vowel sounds that glide from one to the other.

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