Editing Diphthong (section)

====Afrikaans====
The [[Afrikaans phonology|Afrikaans]] language has its origin in Dutch but differs in many significant ways, including the use of diphthongs in the place of several non-diphthong Dutch double vowels, or double-vowels being pronounced differently.
Examples include:
*''ee'' as in leer
*''eu'' as in deur
*''ui'' as in buite

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|+ Diphthong phonemes{{sfnp|Donaldson|1993|pp=2, 8–10}}{{sfnp|Lass|1987|pp=117–119}}
! rowspan="2" colspan="2" | Starting point
! colspan="3" | Ending point
|-
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Central vowel|Central]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Closed vowel|Closed]]
! {{small|unrounded}}
| 
| 
| {{IPA|iʊ̯}}
|-
! {{small|rounded}}
| {{IPA|uɪ̯}}
| 
| 
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
! {{small|unrounded}}
| {{IPA|əɪ̯}}
| {{IPA|ɪə}}
|
|-
! {{small|rounded}}
| {{IPA|œɪ̯, ɔɪ̯, oːɪ̯}}
| {{IPA|ʏə, ʊə}}
| {{IPA|œʊ̯}}
|-
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
! {{small|unrounded}}
| {{IPA|aɪ̯, ɑːɪ̯}}
|
|
|}

* Falling diphthongs. Their first element may be short {{IPA|[ɪə̯, ʊə̯]}} or somewhat lengthened {{IPA|[ɪˑə̯, ʊˑə̯]}}.{{sfnp|Lass|1987|pp=117–119}}
* Rising diphthongs {{IPA|[ɪ̯ə, ʊ̯ə]}}. These variants do not seem to appear word-finally. The sequence {{IPA|/ɦʊə/}} is commonly realised as {{IPA|[ɦʊ̯ə]}} or, more often, {{IPA|[ɦʊ̯ə̤]}}, with {{IPA|/ɦ/}} realised as [[breathy]]
* The scholar Daan Wissing argues that {{IPA|/əɪ̯/}} is not a phonetically correct transcription and that {{IPA|/æɛ̯/}} is more accurate. In his analysis, he found that {{IPA|[æɛ̯]}} makes for 65% of the realisations, the other 35% being monophthongal, {{IPAblink|ə}}, {{IPAblink|æ}} and {{IPAblink|ɛ}}.{{sfnp|Wissing|2009|p=333}}
* Most often, {{IPA|/œɪ̯/}} has an unrounded offset. For some speakers, the onset is also unrounded. That can cause {{IPA|/œɪ̯/}} to merge with {{IPA|/əɪ̯/}}, which is considered non-standard.{{sfnp|Donaldson|1993|p=10}}
* {{IPA|/ɔɪ̯, aɪ̯/}} occur mainly in loanwords.{{sfnp|Donaldson|1993|p=10}}
* Older sources describe {{IPA|/œu/}} as a narrow back diphthong {{IPA|[ou]}}.{{sfnp|Donaldson|1993|p=9}}{{sfnp|Swanepoel|1927|p=44}} However, newer sources describe its onset as more front. For example, {{Harvcoltxt|Lass|1984}}, states that the onset of {{IPA|/œu/}} is central {{IPA|[ɵu]}}.{{sfnp|Lass|1984|p=102}}
** In some words which, in English, are pronounced with {{IPA|/əʊ̯/}}, the Afrikaans equivalent tends to be pronounced with {{IPA|/œʊ̯/}}, rather than {{IPA|/ʊə/}}. That happens because Afrikaans {{IPA|/œʊ̯/}} is more similar to the usual South African realization of English {{IPA|/əʊ̯/}}.{{sfnp|Donaldson|1993|p=9}}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|+ Example words for diphthongs
! Phoneme
! IPA
! Orthography
! Gloss
|-
| {{IPA|/ɪø/}}
| {{IPA|/sɪøn/}}
| {{lang|af|seun}}
| 'son'
|-
| {{IPA|/əɪ̯/}}
| {{IPA|/ɦəɪ̯/}}
| {{lang|af|hy}}
| 'he'
|-
| {{IPA|/ɪə/}}
| {{IPA|/vɪət/}}
| {{lang|af|weet}}
| 'to know'
|-
| {{IPA|/œɪ̯/}}
| {{IPA|/ɦœɪ̯s/}}
| {{lang|af|huis}}
| 'house'
|-
| {{IPA|/ɔɪ̯/}}
| {{IPA|/ˈχɔɪ̯əŋ/}}
| {{lang|af|{{Not a typo|goiing}}}}
| 'burlap'
|-
| {{IPA|/ʊə/}}
| {{IPA|/brʊət/}}
| {{lang|af|brood}}
| 'bread'
|-
| {{IPA|/œʊ̯/}}
| {{IPA|/kœʊ̯t/}}
| {{lang|af|koud}}
| 'cold'
|-
| {{IPA|/aɪ̯/}}
| {{IPA|/ˈbaɪ̯ə/}}
| {{lang|af|baie}}
| 'many'
|}

The long diphthongs (or 'double vowels') are phonemically sequences of a free vowel and a non-syllabic equivalent of {{IPA|/i/}} or {{IPA|/u/}}: {{IPA|[iu, ui, oːi, eu, ɑːi]}}. Both {{IPA|[iu]}} and {{IPA|[eu]}} tend to be pronounced as {{IPA|[iu]}}, but they are spelled differently: the former as {{angbr|ieu}}, the latter as {{angbr|eeu}}.{{sfnp|Donaldson|1993|p=12}}

In diminutives ending in {{IPA|/ki/}} formed to monosyllabic nouns, the vowels {{IPA|/u, ɪə, ʊə, ɛ, ə, œ, ɔ, a, ɑː/}} are realised as closing diphthongs {{IPA|[ui, ei, oi, ɛi, əi, œi, ɔi, ai, ɑːi]}}. In the same environment, the sequences {{IPA|/ɛn, ən, œn, ɔn, an/}} are realized as {{IPA|[ɛiɲ, əiɲ, œiɲ, ɔiɲ, aiɲ]}}, i.e. as closing diphthongs followed by palatal nasal.{{sfnp|Donaldson|1993|pp=10–11}}

* The suffixes {{angbr|-aad}} and {{angbr|-aat}} (phonemically {{IPA|/ɑːd/}} and {{IPA|/ɑːt/}}, respectively) and the diminutive suffix {{IPA|/ki/}} are realised as {{IPA|[ɑːki]}} (with a monophthong), rather than {{IPA|[ɑːiki]}}.{{sfnp|Donaldson|1993|p=10}}
* In practice, the diphthong {{IPA|[əi]}} is realised the same as the phonemic diphthong {{IPA|/əi/}}.{{sfnp|Donaldson|1993|p=11}}
* {{IPA|[œi]}}, when it has arisen from diphthongisation of {{IPA|[œ]}}, differs from the phonemic diphthong {{IPA|/œi/}} by having a slightly different onset, although the exact nature of that difference is unclear. This means that {{lang|af|puntjie}} 'point' sounds somewhat different from {{lang|af|puintjie}} 'rubble'.{{sfnp|Donaldson|1993|p=11}}