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A diphthong ( or ) (Greek: , ''diphthongos'', literally "two sounds" or "two tones"), also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech apparatus) moves during the pronunciation of the vowel. In most dialects of English, the phrase ''no highway cowboys'' has five distinct diphthongs, one in every syllable. Diphthongs contrast with monophthongs, where the tongue or other speech organs do not move and the syllable contains only a single vowel sound. For instance, in English, the word ''ah'' is spoken as a monophthong , while the word ''ow'' is spoken as a diphthong . Where two adjacent vowel sounds occur in different syllables—for example, in the English word ''re-elect''—the result is described as hiatus, not as a diphthong. Diphthongs often form when separate vowels are run together in rapid speech during a conversation. However, there are also unitary diphthongs, as in the English examples above, which are heard by listeners as single-vowel sounds (phonemes).〔(definition of 'Diphthong' ) on SIL International, accessed 17 January 2008〕 ==Transcription== In the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), monophthongs are transcribed with one symbol, as in English ''sun'' , in which represents a monophthong. Diphthongs are transcribed with two symbols, as in English ''high'' or ''cow'' , in which and represent diphthongs. Diphthongs may be transcribed with two vowel symbols or with a vowel symbol and a semivowel symbol. In the words above, the less prominent member of the diphthong can be represented with the symbols for the palatal approximant and the labiovelar approximant , with the symbols for the close vowels and , or the symbols for the near-close vowels and : Some transcriptions are broader or narrower (less precise or more precise phonetically) than others. Transcribing the English diphthongs in ''high'' and ''cow'' as or is a less precise or broader transcription, since these diphthongs usually end in a vowel sound that is opener than the semivowels or the close vowels . Transcribing the diphthongs as is a more precise or narrower transcription, since the English diphthongs usually end in the near-close vowels . The non-syllabic diacritic, the inverted breve below ,〔(FileFormat.Info ), page on (combining inverted breve below )〕 is placed under the less prominent part of a diphthong to show that it is part of a diphthong rather than a vowel in a separate syllable: . When there is no contrastive vowel sequence in the language, the diacritic may be omitted. Other common indications that the two letters are not separate vowels are a superscript, ,〔Used e.g. by The author states that the Afrikaans diphthongs can be transcribed .〕 or a tie bar, or .〔Used e.g. by . The author transcribes the diphthongs as . However, on page 36, he admits that phonetically, are more precise symbols.〕 The tie bar can be useful when it's not clear which letter represents the syllable nucleus, or when they have equal weight.〔Battisti (2000) ''Fonetica generale'', p 224〕 Superscripts may are especially used when an on- or off-glide is particularly fleeting.〔E.g. Allen & Hawkins (1978) ''Development of Phonological Rhythm'' contranst from from 〕 The period is the opposite of the non-syllabic diacritic: it represents a syllable break. If two vowels next to each other belong to two different syllables (hiatus), meaning that they do not form a diphthong, they can be transcribed with two vowel symbols with a period in between. Thus, ''lower'' can be transcribed , with a period separating the first syllable, , from the second syllable, . The non-syllabic diacritic is only used when necessary. It is typically omitted when there is no ambiguity, as in . No words in English have the vowel sequences , so the non-syllabic diacritic is unnecessary. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Diphthong」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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