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Triphthongs are vowel sounds made by combining three vowel sounds together.
For example the ower sound in flower.
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What is diphthongs and triphthongs?
A diphthong is a vowel sound created by combining two different vowels in one syllable. A triphthong is a vowel sound created by combining three different vowels in one syllable. A triphthong may form simple or compound sounds.
How many vowel sounds are there in English?
English has 5 written vowels (a,e,i,o and u), but 20 vocalic sounds: 12 vowel sounds (/i:/,/ɪ/,/e/,/æ/,/ɑ:/,/ɒ/,/ɔ:/,/ʊ/,/u:/,/ʌ/,/ɜ:/,/ə/), 8 diphthongs (centring: /ɪə/, /eə/, /ʊə/; closing: /eɪ/, /aɪ/, /ɔɪ/; and /aʊ/, /əʊ/). Besides, 6 triphthongs (/eɪə/, /aɪə/, /ɔɪə/ /aʊə/, /əʊə/), and about 26 consonantal sounds.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------It depends on the dialect of English you are referring to, and can vary from 14 to 20 or more.Basic Vowel Sounds (according to one classification scheme)long A - day, paid, namelong E - we, seed, beanlong I - lie, fine, sighlong O - bowl, comb, low, sewlong U (oo or yoo) - cool, moon, suit / cute, fuel, unitshort A - apple, bad, last,short E - bed, get, headshort I - did, pin, sitshort O - body, cop, hotshort U - cut, dumb, floodshort OO - good, foot, could, putR-shaped A - car, starR-shaped I (usually considered long E) - near, pierAW/OR (may include long O words in British English) - saw, lawn, caught / horse, courtR-shaped U - bird, her, heard, purr, urge* R-shaped long A - air, pairOI (oy)- boy, noise, pointOU (ow) - cow, sound, outSchwa sound (eh/uh) - unstressed sound like A in about or sofa, E in fasten*Schwa R sound (er/ur) - A in cedar, E in water(see related links)
What are the 15 vowel sounds in English?
English has 5 written vowels (a,e,i,o and u), but 20 vocalic sounds: 12 vowel sounds (/i:/,/ɪ/,/e/,/æ/,/ɑ:/,/ɒ/,/ɔ:/,/ʊ/,/u:/,/ʌ/,/ɜ:/,/ə/), 8 diphthongs (centring: /ɪə/, /eə/, /ʊə/; closing: /eɪ/, /aɪ/, /ɔɪ/; and /aʊ/, /əʊ/).Some include the sounds of 6 triphthongs (/eɪə/, /aɪə/, /ɔɪə/ /aʊə/, /əʊə/), and about 26 consonantal sounds.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The 15 vowel sounds taught under many guides include :the long sounds for A, E, I, O, and OOthe short sounds for A, E, I, O, and OOthe schwa (short U when stressed)the schwa R (short U followed by R when stressed)the diphthongs AW/OR, OI/OY, and OU/OWArranged by groups, they are:i: - see, heat (long E)ɪ - hit, sitting (short I)eɪ - say, eight (long A)e - met, bed (short E)æ - cat, black (short A)ə - away, cinema (schwa)ɜ: - turn, learn (long schwa-R)ɒ - hot, rock (short O)u: - blue, moon (long OO)ʊ - book, could (short OO)əʊ - go, home (diphthong O)ɔ: - call, four (the OR/AW sound)aɪ - five, eye (long I)aʊ - now, out (ou/ow pair)ɔɪ - boy, join (oi/oy pair)19 vowel soundsOmitted are the separate R sounds -ar (car), -ur (herd, bird), -air (care, pair), and the short U (uh) which is treated as a stressed schwa. These would bring the total to 19.Another way to reach 19 sounds is to treat the AW as a diphthong and define the long U as a separate (yoo) sound, giving you 5 long, 5 short, 2 OO, and 4 diphthong sounds. Making a schwa brings the total to 20 and two schwas would bring this total to 21.
