Unit 1.1

Triphthongs

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Introduction

In the English language there are 5 different triphthongs.

Form

When diphthongs are composed with one more vowel, the result is the formation of triphthongs. The vowel sound added is schwa (/ə/).

Below you can read the phonetic transcription of triphthongs:

  • eɪ + ə
  • ɑɪ + ə
  • ɔi + ə
  • əʊ + ə
  • ɑʊ + ə

Example

  • eɪ + ə:
    layer, mayor, player;
  • ɑɪ + ə:
    admire, fire, hire;
  • ɔi + ə:
    lawyer, royal, soya;
  • əʊ + ə:
    lower, slower, mower;
  • ɑʊ + ə:
    power, tower, hour.

Use

Triphthongs are three vowel sounds that occur consecutively and can be separated in different syllables.

As we are talking about sounds, the addition of /ə/ is only on speech, as there is no form to put across the sound in a written word. The words with triphthongs have a consonant written somewhere in the clustering.

Related

At B1 level you can take a look at these:

Exercises

External link to Triphthongs exercises (1206).



More exercises

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