3 ms·

Another thing an English speaker needs to learn about Germanic vowel is that they're all monophthongs. In English, most vowel letters end up being diphthongs,

Another thing an English speaker needs to learn about Germanic vowel is that they're all monophthongs. In English, most vowel letters end up being diphthongs, and speakers have trouble pronouncing vowels without putting a diphthong-like "curve" to the end of the vowel. For example, German "so" or Scandinavian "så" have a single vowel, whereas English "so" has a diphthong that makes it rhyme with "sew" /soʊ/. Some of the Germanic vowels are also quite different. "e" and "i" exist in English ("men", "bin", though English doesn't have the long versions, as in German "mehr"), but "u", "ü" and "y" don't. "o" is interesting in that it only exist a silent mouth shape at the beginning of certain w- words such as "what" and "where" (/ʍ/). The English "o" used in words like "move" is different.

thaumasiotes 9y ago
> In English, most vowel letters end up being diphthongs, and speakers have trouble pronouncing vowels without putting a diphthong-like "curve" to the end of the vowel. This is overstated. I'll repeat that same sentence with diphthongs replaced by underscores: In English, m_st v_wel letters end up being diphthongs, and speakers have trouble pron__ncing v_wels with__t putting a diphthong-l_ke "curve" to the end of the v_wel. And "pronouncing" and "without" use digraphs for the diphthong. But even counting them, or double-counting them, or counting the "e" in like as also "being a diphthong", that doesn't look like "most vowel letters" to me.
- lobster_johnson 9y ago
  The point wasn't to pedantically count diphthongs, it's the idea that English is biased towards them in a way that Germanic languages aren't, and which affects their pronouncation if left uncorrected. If it helps, replace "most" with "many". This all depends on dialect, of course. Words like "ride" can occur both as diphthong (/ɹaɪd/) and monophthong (/ɹa:d/). Southern American dialects have things like vowel breaking that further puts a spin on vowels.

thaumasiotes 9y ago

> In English, most vowel letters end up being diphthongs, and speakers have trouble pronouncing vowels without putting a diphthong-like "curve" to the end of the vowel. This is overstated. I'll repeat that same sentence with diphthongs replaced by underscores: In English, m_st v_wel letters end up being diphthongs, and speakers have trouble pron__ncing v_wels with__t putting a diphthong-l_ke "curve" to the end of the v_wel. And "pronouncing" and "without" use digraphs for the diphthong. But even counting them, or double-counting them, or counting the "e" in like as also "being a diphthong", that doesn't look like "most vowel letters" to me.

lobster_johnson 9y ago
The point wasn't to pedantically count diphthongs, it's the idea that English is biased towards them in a way that Germanic languages aren't, and which affects their pronouncation if left uncorrected. If it helps, replace "most" with "many". This all depends on dialect, of course. Words like "ride" can occur both as diphthong (/ɹaɪd/) and monophthong (/ɹa:d/). Southern American dialects have things like vowel breaking that further puts a spin on vowels.