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A centering diphthong is one that begins with a more peripheral vowel and ends with a more central one, such as [ɪə̯], [ɛə̯], and [ʊə̯] in Received Pronunciation or [iə̯] and [uə̯] in Irish. Many centering diphthongs are also opening diphthongs ([iə̯], [uə̯]). Diphthongs may contrast in how far they open or close.
Although the Old English diphthongs merged into monophthongs, Middle English began to develop a new set of diphthongs.Many of these came about through vocalization of the palatal approximant /j/ (usually from an earlier /ʝ/) or the labio-velar approximant /w/ (sometimes from an earlier voiced velar fricative [ɣ]), when they followed a vowel.
A word has one syllable for every short vowel, long vowel, or diphthong. In addition, syllables began with a consonant if possible, and sometimes ended with a consonant. Consonants at the beginning of the syllable are the syllable onset, the vowel in the middle is a nucleus, and the consonant at the end is a coda.
äu is used in German for the diphthong /ɔɪ/ in declension of native words with au ; elsewhere, /ɔɪ/ is written as eu . In words, mostly of Latin origin, where ä and u are separated by a syllable boundary, it represents /ɛ.ʊ/, e.g. Matthäus (a German form for Matthew).
This arose because the two words were originally pronounced differently: pain used to be pronounced as /peɪn/, with a diphthong, and pane as /peːn/, but the diphthong /eɪ/ merged with the long vowel /eː/ in pane, making pain and pane homophones (pane–pain merger). Later /eː/ became a diphthong /eɪ/. break and brake: (She's breaking the ...
The stressed diphthong /aw/ au becomes the unstressed diphthong [ɔw] au . For instance (stress underlined): s au ta /ˈsawtɔ/ → saut a r /sɔwˈta/ . The stressed diphthong /aj/ ai becomes the unstressed diphthong [ej] ai .
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Note that some words contain an ae which may not be written æ because the etymology is not from the Greek -αι-or Latin -ae-diphthongs. These include: In instances of aer (starting or within a word) when it makes the sound IPA [ɛə]/[eə] (air). Comes from the Latin āër, Greek ἀήρ. When ae makes the diphthong / eɪ / (lay) or / aɪ ...