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Ask for help > Is a triphthong a single vowel sound or two sounds?
Is a triphthong a single vowel sound or two sounds?
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Ruwayda37
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Is a triphthong a single vowel sound or two sounds?
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Hello fellow teachers,
I use synthetic phonics to teach children to read and spell words. They divide the word into separate phonemes but I �m not sure of how to divide words like hour, shower and flower according to the British pronunciation. Can I teach them as diphthongs followed by another vowel? I googled images for the 44 English sounds but did not find triphthongs in these images. Thanks
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19 Sep 2014
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maryse pey�
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It is 3 vowel sounds as in �flower � for example.
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19 Sep 2014
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almaz
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John Wells made an interesting point in his (alas discontinued) blog saying that the problem with defining a triphthong comes down to much the same as defining a syllable - if you agree that, like a diphthong, it (a triphthong) is a vowel glide within a single syllable. Have a look at this:
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20 Sep 2014
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Zora
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Do you actually need to teach triphthongs? Some languages are quite clear about them. Spanish, for example, is a language where diphthongs and triphthongs have clear rules - i.e. three vowels together are normally considered a triphthong - 3 vowels, 3 vowel sounds. However, English doesn �t. For example, two vowels together in a word that make 3 sounds is considered a triphthong, but this can change depending on pronunciation, and often regional dialects of that word.
Personally, I �d not really touch the topic unless I really had to.
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20 Sep 2014
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joy2bill
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Tripthong, diphthong...alas we are talking about something that native speakers would probably not know. Do we have to complicate our beautiful language experience? I agree with Zora... Leave it alone.
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21 Sep 2014
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Ruwayda37
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Actually we are not trying to complicate anything but just trying to make sure that we are on the right way. If �phoneme count � is one of the activities that help children spell, then I have to be careful when I teach children if the word � hire � , for example, has 2 phonemes or 3 phonemes. I like accuracy if you don �t mind.
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22 Sep 2014
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almaz
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Agree completely, Riham. So, what �s your opinion on the link I gave above? |
22 Sep 2014
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Ruwayda37
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Thanks a lot almaz; It �s been a great help. It seems it �s safer to consider triphthongs as two separate vowels even though that may not always apply to all words in BBC pronunciation. |
23 Sep 2014
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