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Re: [OM] [OT] Diphthong (was: Dipthong)

Subject: Re: [OM] [OT] Diphthong (was: Dipthong)
From: Chris Barker <imagopus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 29 May 2001 13:23:04 +0100
Dear All

From the "Shorter OED", 1983 ed:

<A union of two vowels prounounced in one syullabale; the combination of a sonantal with a consonantal vowel. b. Often applied to a combination of two vowel characters prop. termed DIGRAPH, and applied to the ligatures ae and oe (read pushed together) of the Roman Alphabet 1587.>

So it is for vowels alone, but the word "consonantal" might have confused people.

Chris


Always understood diphthong to be vowels only. There are the ones where the
second 'e' is 'glued' to the vowel and I suspect that this comes from the
German habit of replacing a umlaut accent with an 'e'. Americans simply
avoid them (as in foetus, fetus). But any double vowel is a diphthong,
isn't it? It's possible that your schools were simply wrong (I have
students who were taught in Primary School that 'a lot' is one word -
sometimes such things develop a life of their own).
Diphthongs were originally pronounced differently - you could hear both
vowels as in the modern Northumbrian pronunciation of boat as bo-at. 'Th'
is modern - Old English had actual letters for soft 'th' (thorn) and hard
'th' (the).
AndrewF

--
<|_:-)_|>

C M I Barker
Cambridgeshire, England.

+44 (0)7092 251126
mailto:imagopus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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