Monophthong
A
monophthong (in
Greek μονόφθογγος =
single note) is a "pure"
vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation; compare
diphthong.
In the
English language, there are in practice relatively few monophthongs. The position, beginnings, and endings of vowel articulation are perhaps the chief distinguishing feature among the various
dialects of English; the differences between the pronunciations of
British English and
American English are largely a result of the different realization of vowel sounds. The conversion of monophthongs to diphthongs, or of diphthongs to monophthongs, is a major element of
language change and is likely the cause of further changes. Some sounds that may be perceived by native speakers as monophthongs in both these varieties of English are, in fact, diphthongs; the vowel sound in
pay —
IPA is an example of this. Some dialects of English make monophthongs out of former diphthongs. In British English, the vowel
boat is generally realized as a diphthong ; American English has either with much less change of articulation or a pure vowel in this position. Also, the speech of the southern United States tends to alter the diphthong as in
eye to an somewhere between and . On the other hand, former monophthongs have become diphthongs in American English such as the in words like
pin changing to in some American dialects.
Historically, some languages treat vowel sounds that were formerly diphthongs as monophthongs. Such is the case in
Sanskrit, in whose grammar the sounds now realised as and are conceptually
ai and
au, and are written that way in the
Devanagari and related alphabets. The sounds and exist in Sanskrit, but are written as if they were
āi and
āu, with long initial vowels. Similar processes of the creation of new monophthongs from old diphthongs are preserved in the traditional spellings of languages as diverse as
French and modern
Greek.
*
vowel*
diphthong*
triphthong*
list of vowels*
list of phonetics topics
