Triphthong

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In phonetics, a triphthong (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 tongue from one vowel quality to another that passes over a third. While "pure" vowels, or monophthongs, are said to have one target tongue position, diphthongs have two, and triphthongs three.

[edit] Examples

Monosyllabic triphthongs stressed on the first element in Bernese German (a Swiss German dialect) and in Latvian:

[iə̯w] as in Gieu 'boy'
[yə̯w] as in Gfüeu 'feeling'
[uə̯w] as in Schueu 'school'
[yə̯j] as in Müej 'trouble'

In Latvian:

[iea] as in tie [ˈtiea] 'they'^{[citation needed]}
[uoa] as in ko [ˈkuoa] 'what'^{[citation needed]}

Monosyllabic triphthongs stressed on the second element in Spanish:

[wei̯] as in buey 'ox'
[wai̯] as in Uruguay
[jai̯] as in cambiáis ('you change')
[jei̯] as in cambiéis ('that you may change')

and in Standard Mandarin Chinese:

[u̯ai̯] as in 快 kuài 'fast'
[u̯ei̯] as in 回 huéi (pinyin spelling: huì) 'return'
[i̯aʊ̯] as in 票 piào 'ticket'
[i̯oʊ̯] as in 六 liòu (pinyin spelling: liù) 'six'

or in Romanian:

[jaw] as in iau 'I take'
[e̯aw] as in rîdeau 'they were laughing'

and in Vietnamese:

[ɨə̯ɪ̯] as in tươi 'fresh'
[ɨə̯ʊ̯] as in rượu 'alcohol'
[iə̯ʊ̯] as in tiêu 'pepper'
[uə̯ɪ̯] as in "nuôi 'to nourish'
[ui̯ʊ̯] as in khuỵu 'to fall on one's knees'^{[citation needed]}

Monosyllabic triphthongs stressed on the third element in Romanian (semivocalic phonemes marked with reversed circumflex accents):

[e̯o̯a] as in pleoape 'eyelids'
[i̯o̯a] as in creioane 'pencils'

The following British Received Pronunciation vowel sequences are sometimes analyzed as triphthongs stressed on the first element (they are also analyzed as disyllabic sequences of a diphthong and a monophthong):