What is a diphthong?

Feb 06

NEW VIDEO: What is a diphthong?

Have you ever wondered, what is a diphthong? Have you ever wished that you knew how to pronounce diphthongs in a standard southern British English accent? In this video, these are exactly he things that I'm going to help you with.

What is a diphthong?

A good diphthong definition, is that it is a combination of two vowel sounds that make up one syllable.

So the word I is actually a diphthong as well as being a single syllable.

It's a combination of a shorter version of the vowel in START and then the lips and tongue slide into the position for the vowel sound in FLEECE.

Diphthong Examples

There are many examples of diphthongs.

In RP (standard southern British English) there are 8 in total.

But in all my years of coaching, there is one that is particularly challenging for non-native speakers, and that's the diphthong in a word like 'no'.

So, here's how to pronounce this diphthong, as well as a diphthong list of other words with the same sound. If there are any other words like them that you're struggling with, post them in the comments below, and I'll try to help. Go to 1.35min in the video above to learn how to pronounce this diphthong.