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However, the length of the vowels is not the only distinctive feature of minimal pairs like Pete -pit, beet - bit, etc. There are long vowel phonemes in English and short. Applied to the English diphthongs, all these criteria support the view of their monophonemic status. They are the criteria of articulatory, morphophonological (and, in the case of diphthongs, also syllabic) indivisibility, commutability and duration. The same phonological criteria may be used for justifying the monophonemic treatment of the English diphthongs as those applicable to the English affricates. In accordance with the principle of structural simplicity and economy American descriptivists liquidated the diphthongs in English as unit phonemes. Trubetzkoy states that a diphthong should be (a) unisyllabic, that is the parts of a diphthong cannot belong to two syllables (b) monophonemic with gliding articulation (c) its length should not exceed the length of a single phoneme. Jones defines diphthongs as unisyllabic gliding sounds in the articulation of which the organs of speech start from one position and then glide to another position. The 3d group of scientists defines a diphthong from the accentual point of view: since only one element is accented and the other is unaccented, a diphthong is a single sound.ĭ. Another definition of a diphthong as a single sound is based on the instability of the second element. Since in a diphthong only one element serves as a syllabic nucleus, a diphthong is a single sound. One definition is based on the ability of a vowel to form a syllable.

The English diphthongs are, like the affricates, the object of a sharp phonological controversy, whose essence is the same as in the case of affricates are the English diphthongs biphonemic sound complexes or composite monophonemic entities?ĭiphthongs are defined differently by different authors. Principles of classification provide the basis for the establishment of the following distinctive oppositions:īit - bait, kit - kite, John - join, debt - doubtģ. The following 20 vowel phonemes are distinguished in BBC English (RP).