People nowadays are becoming more and more aware of the pronunciation of the words. But to learn correct pronunciation there are some grammar guidelines that need to be followed.
Are you aware of the terms monophthong, diphthong, and triphthong? If not, then this is the best place where you would learn about the basics of monopthong and have a deeper understanding of English pronunciation.
But before moving ahead you must have an understanding of the vowel sounds. In English grammar, the vowel sounds are tricky. This is because the vowel sounds can be flexible and malleable. Whereas if you consult the consonant sounds then you would observe a bit of uniform pronunciation or sound throughout the dialects.
Mostly vowel sounds would have variations in pronunciation from region to region.
Monophthongs – One Vowel Sound in a Syllable
There is one more aspect of vowel sound which can be really confusing. If a word has multiple vowels the how would you pronounce it? These sounds blend together into one unit and are difficult to find a clear division.
If the word is having single syllable, then it is called monopthong. If the word has two vowels sound combined with a syllable then it is called diphthong. And finally, if the word has three vowel sound combined in a syllable then it is called triphthong.
Let’s see at some of the examples, to understand it in a better way. Read the words aloud or say each word to yourself.
- Mouse (1 syllable)
- Rabbit (2 syllables)
- Kangaroo (3 syllables)
- Barracuda (4 syllables)
- Hippopotamus (5 syllables)
Basically, a syllable is a unit of pronunciation. You could observe the rhythmic character of the word.
| Note: A monophthong is where there is one vowel sound in a syllable, and a diphthong is where there are two vowel sounds in a syllable. |
Monophthongs: Out of the three, the most basic vowel sound is monopthong. You would observe that the prefix “mono-” means single which is used to refer the single sound. The word “-pthong” refers to the root word within the single syllable. Most of the words are short vowels. Although, there are long vowel monopthongs as well. Let’s discuss both of them one by one.
Short Vowel Monophthongs Words List
In English grammar, you would find that most of the monopthongs in English are basically known as “Short Vowel”. The short vowels are usually produced when in a word, a vowel is followed by one or more consonants. You can also consider the sound in a syllable.
Let’s look at some examples of each type of short vowel:
| Vowel Letter | IPA Symbol | Example Words |
| A a | /æ/ | apple(/?æp?l/)map(/mæp/)track(/træk/)man(/mæn/) |
| E e | /?/ | set(/s?t/)jet(/d??/)bend(/b?nd/)met(/m?t/) |
| I i | /?/ | tip(/t?p/)strip(/str?p/)imply(/?m?pla?/)fin(/f?n/) |
| O o | /?/ | top(/t?p/)hot(/h?t/)offer(/??f?r/)pollen(/?p?l?n/) |
| U u | /?/ | cut(/k?t/)hug(/h?g/)mutt(/m?t/)strut(/str?t/) |
| U u | /?/ | put(/p?t/)push(/p??/)full(/f?l/)sugar(/??g?r/) |
| Y y | /?/ | myth(/m??/)system(/?s?st?m/)rhythm(/?r?ð?m/)crypt(/kr?pt/) |
Now, let’s understand what do we mean by “Long Vowel”.
Long Vowel Monophthongs Words List
One of the traditional long vowels is a monopthong – it is “long E”. It is represented in IPA by the sound /i/. If you observe carefully, then this sound is produced by letter E. But do not get confused with the sounds as this sound is also produced by letter Y. For instance, you can check the examples given below and the sound produced by them.
- me
- concrete
- happy
- friendly
- feel
- eat
- categories
You could also see some of the vowels that can be used as the names of the vowels.
1. /u/
- exclude
- prove
- true
- cruise
- chew
- loot
- through
2. /?/
- water
- across
- thought
- dawn
- author
3. /?/
- nerve
- stir
- work
- curve
- search
- journey
We hope we have got some insight into monophthongs after reading this piece. Stay tuned to EnglishBix for more learning resources.