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hi there
in this video we're going to be looking
at the diphthong sounds i'm colin monroe
and this is the english language club
diphthongs are the sounds represented by
the symbols in red there are eight of
them on the phonetic chart
and these are the main ones you need to
know about
so what is a diphthong well
a diphthong is a type of vowel sound
that is made up of a combination of two
single vowel sounds but within the same
syllable
each column is arranged according to the
second sound in the diphthong
in the first column
each sound ends with a
sound
and air
in the second column
each sound ends with a e sound
a
oi
and i
and in the third column each sound ends
with a
remember that the key to pronunciation
is physical and the diphthongs are a
combination of two sounds
so your mouth will change position as
you say the sound
let's look at the monophthongs again so
you can see what i mean
first of all
let's look at
ear
this is a combination of
but it's pronounced within one syllable
the main physical difference between the
sounds on the top row and the sounds on
the second row is that your mouth should
be a little more open for the second row
sounds
so as you say ear
your mouth should open a little bit
starting on the
and finishing on the
ear
as in the words
year
here
and really
let's look at the next one
this is a combination of
again your mouth should open a little as
you go from the first sound to the
second sound
starting on the uh
and finishing on the uh
as in the words
our
power
and during
now we have a combination of e
and uh
this time both the vowels are on the
same row so the mouth doesn't open or
close the main difference is the shape
of our lips and the origin of our sound
in our throat starting on the e and
finishing on the uh
air
as in the words
there
where
and parent
moving on to the second column
now each sound ends with the vowel sound
e or e
because sometimes it is the longer e
sound
in reality it's kind of somewhere in
between the two it just depends on the
word
when we say the diphthong sounds in
isolation we normally use the longer
form
a
oy
and i
the first sound is
a
which is a combination of
e
or e
this time we need to close our mouths a
little as we say the sound
starting on the e
and finishing on the e or e
a
as in the words
they
say
and make
the next sound
is oi
this is a combination of o
and
they're on different rows again
but the shape of our lips and the
position of our tongue also change a lot
because we're going from the right all
the way to the left going from rounded
lips to unrounded
starting on the or
and finishing on the e or e
as in the words
point
boy and oil
the next sound is i
which is a combination of
are
and
now we're going from the bottom row
to the top
so our mouth start wide open and closes
as we say the sound
i
starting on the r and finishing on the e
i
as in the words
i
by
and time
the next sound is
o
this is a combination of
and
the main difference here
is the shape of the lips
rounding a little as we say the sound
oh
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starting on the uh
and finishing on the
as in the words go
no
and only
the next sound is
ow
this is a combination of
a and
now our mouth is closing
and the shape of the lips is changing at
the same time rounding a little as we
say the sound
ow
starting on the app
and finishing on the uh
as in the words out
how and down
so that's all the diphthong sounds
thanks for watching and i hope you found
this useful
if you have any questions or comments
please do get in touch
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thanks for watching
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