Diphthongise (Verb)
Meaning
Change from a simple vowel to a diphthong; "This vowel diphthongized in Germanic".
Classification
Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing.
Examples
- The isolated vowel sound in 'house' is often diphthongised in informal American speech.
- During theProto-Germanic period many original vowels developed into complex sounds and diphthongised.
- In some languages the sound in word 'boat' remained simple, but in others it diphthongised.
- In standardised US English the vowel in 'price' diphthongises but less in certain regional pronunciations.
- Old English sometimes used standard short vowels which in Modern English will diphthongise.