Triphthong

In phonetics, a triphthong (/ˈtrɪfθɒŋ/ or /ˈtrɪpθɒŋ/) (from Greek τρίφθογγος, "triphthongos", literally "with three sounds," or "with three tones") is a monosyllabic vowel combination involving a quick but smooth movement of the articulator from one vowel quality to another that passes over a third. While "pure" vowels, or monophthongs, are said to have one target articulator position, diphthongs have two, and triphthongs three.

Examples

First segment is the nucleus

English

In British Received Pronunciation, (monosyllabic triphthongs with R are optionally distinguished from sequences with disyllabic realizations)

As [eɪ̯] and [əʊ̯] become [ɛə̯] and [ɔː] respectively before /r/, all instances of [eɪ̯.ə] and [əʊ̯.ə] are words with the suffix "-er".

In Cockney, triphthongal realizations [ɪi̯ɐ̯, ɛi̯ə̯, ɔu̯ə̯, æi̯ə̯] of /iə, eə, ɔə, æʊ/ are possible, and are regarded as "very strongly Cockney". Among these, the triphthongal realization of /ɔə/ occurs most commonly. There is not a complete agreement about the distribution of these; according to Wells (1982b), they "occur in sentence-final position", whereas according to Mott (2012), these are "most common in final position".