Monday 31 May 2010

Closing diphthongs with /ə/ termination. Some more information about them

In these sequences, the [ɪ] or [ʊ] element is generally reduced and may be altogether absent – an effect which has been termed smoothing (Wells 1982 in Collins & Mees 2008). The contrast between /aʊə/ and /a:/ was formerly absent in the relaxed speech of some RP speakers, but this suffered a degree of stigmatisation, often labelled as ‘affected’. In Modern Non Regional Pronunciation (NRP) a clear contrast of / aʊə - aIə- a:/ seems to be well maintained.
You can perceive a similar degree of smoothing in sequences like /eIə/ (conveyor), /əʊə/ (thrower), /ɔɪə/ (royal).
Some other extreme smoothings are described, but they are not considered usual in NRP.

No matter how we call it, there is a reduction of the original closing diphtongs. That leads me into thinking that we should consider these sequences as disyllabic. Nothing new, since this was asserted by Wells in his blog, where he discussed Roach's definition of triphthongs. Moreover, he just denies the existence of them as glides.
Hope it helps!!

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