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Triphthong

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(Redirected from Triphthongs) Vowel sound involving motion through 3 vowel qualities
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In phonetics, a triphthong (UK: /ˈtrɪfθɒŋ, ˈtrɪpθɒŋ/ TRIF-thong, TRIP-thong, US: /-θɔːŋ/ -⁠thawng) (from Greek τρίφθογγος triphthongos, lit. 'with three sounds' or 'with three tones') is a monosyllabic vowel combination involving a quick but smooth movement of the articulator from one vowel quality to another that passes over a third. While "pure" vowels, or monophthongs, are said to have one target articulator position, diphthongs have two and triphthongs three.

Triphthongs are not to be confused with disyllabic sequences of a diphthong followed by a monophthong, as in German Feuer [ˈfɔʏ.ɐ] 'fire', where the final vowel is longer than those found in triphthongs.

Examples

Triphthongs that feature close elements typically analyzed as /j/ and /w/ in phonology are not listed. For instance, the Polish word łój [wuj] 'tallow' is typically analyzed as /CVC/ - a sequence of a consonant followed by a vowel and another consonant. This is because the palatal approximant is resyllabified in some inflected forms, such as łojami [wɔˈjami] (instr. pl.), and also because /w/ occurs word-finally after a consonant just like /l/ does (compare przemysł [ˈpʂɛmɨsw] 'industry' with Przemyśl [ˈpʂɛmɨɕl] 'Przemyśl'), which means that both of them behave more like consonants than vowels.

On the other hand, are not treated as phonetic consonants when they arise from vocalization of /l/, /v/ or /ɡ/ as they do not share almost all of their features with those three.

First segment is the nucleus

Bernese German

Bernese German has the following triphthongs:

  • as in Gieu 'boy'
  • as in Gfüeu 'feeling'
  • as in Schueu 'school'

They have arisen due to the vocalization of /l/ in the syllable coda; compare the last two with Standard German Gefühl [ɡəˈfyːl] and Schule [ˈʃuːlə], the last one with a schwa not present in the Bernese word.

Danish

Danish has the following triphthongs:

  • as in færge 'ferry'
  • as in hvirvle 'to whirl'
  • as in Børge, a given name
  • as in spurv 'sparrow'

English

In British Received Pronunciation, and most other non-rhotic (r-dropping) varieties of English, monosyllabic triphthongs with R are optionally distinguished from sequences with disyllabic realizations:

  • as in: flour (compare with disyllabic "flower" )
  • as in: byre (compare with disyllabic "buyer" )
  • as in: coir (compare with disyllabic "coyer" ), loir (compare with disyllabic "lawyer" )

As and become and respectively before /r/, most instances of and are words with the suffix "-er", such as player and lower. Other instances are loanwords, such as boa.

are sometimes written as ⟨awə, ajə, ɔjə⟩, or similarly.

Second segment is the nucleus

Spanish:

The last two are mostly restricted to European Spanish. In Latin American Spanish (which has no distinct vosotros form), the corresponding words are cambian [ˈkambi̯an] and cambien [ˈkambi̯en], with a rising-opening diphthong followed by a nasal stop and initial, rather than final stress. In phonology, are analyzed as a monosyllabic sequence of three vowels: /uei, uai, iai, iei/. In Help:IPA/Spanish, those triphthongs are transcribed ⟨wej, waj, jaj, jej⟩: [ˈbwej], [uɾuˈɣwaj], [kamˈbjajs], [kamˈbjejs]

See also

References

  1. "Vokale". udtale.de (in German). Retrieved 8 Feb 2024.

Bibliography

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