Monophthong
In today's world, Monophthong has become a topic of great relevance and interest to a wide variety of people. Whether due to its impact on society, its importance in the professional field or its historical relevance, Monophthong has captured the attention of individuals of all ages and backgrounds. This article seeks to fully explore the meaning and implications of Monophthong, offering both an overview and a detailed analysis of its different aspects. Over the next few lines, we will delve into the fascinating world of Monophthong, with the aim of providing a complete and enriching perspective on this topic of undoubted importance in the current panorama.
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A monophthong (/ˈmɒnəfθɒŋ, ˈmɒnəp-/ MON-əf-thong, MON-əp-; from Ancient Greek μονόφθογγος (monóphthongos) 'one sound', from μόνος (mónos) 'single', and φθόγγος (phthóngos) 'sound') is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation. The monophthongs can be contrasted with diphthongs, where the vowel quality changes within the same syllable, and hiatus, where two vowels are next to each other in different syllables. A vowel sound whose quality does not change over the duration of the vowel is called a pure vowel.
Sound changes
The conversions of monophthongs to diphthongs (diphthongization), and of diphthongs to monophthongs (monophthongization), are major elements of language change and are likely the cause of further changes.
In some languages, due to monophthongization, graphemes that originally represented diphthongs now represent monophthongs.
See also
- Diphthong, also known as a vowel cluster
- Vowel hiatus
- Index of phonetics articles
- Table of vowels
- Semivowel
- Triphthong
- Vowel
- Vowel breaking
References
