Diphthongs┃Learn American English Pronunciation On the Go

Rachel: Welcome to the Rachel's English podcast, 

where it’s  my goal to help you speak better American  

English and to understand Americans more easily. I’m here with my husband David.

David: Hey everybody.

Rachel: And today we’re going to discuss diphthongs. 

If you would like a free copy of the transcript of this podcast,  

just visit rachelsenglish.com/podcast and search for this episode. So, this is a continuation  

of what we did a couple of weeks ago, David, when we were studying the vowels, do you remember that?

David: I do.

Rachel: And, when I asked you what vowels you could think of at the beginning  

of the first episode, you named some diphthongs.

David: By accident.

Rachel: By accident.

David: Mm-hmm.

Rachel: And that was frustrating. You were  

like why is this a diphthong? Do you remember what I said about what makes something a diphthong?

David: No.

Rachel: Okay. Well, basically a diphthong is two vowel sounds  

squished together in the same syllable and in this way, they form a single unit. Like “A” or “I”.

David: [Laughs] Right.  

I do remember now how you  described it. And I also--

Rachel: Does it not make sense to you?

David: No, it makes sense logically,  

but for me it’s hard to hear the two parts because I’m just used to thinking of it as a vowel sound.

Rachel: Okay. So, look at my mouth as I say it “A”,  

do you see how my mouth moves.

David: Mm-hmm.

Rachel: That’s another way to think of a diphthong.  

David: Do it again.

Rachel: “A”.

David: Your mouth has two positions during the sound.

Rachel: Mm-hmm. How would you describe them? 

What’s the main change you see “A”?

David: Mouth more open to almost closed.

Rachel: Mm-hmm, jaw drop.

David: Jaw drop.

Rachel: Yeah, what about this one  

“O”, what do you see changing?

David: Uh, wide rounded lips to small rounded lips.

Rachel: Mm-hmm,  

yeah. So, that’s the thing when it’s  a diphthong and we have two separate  

sounds that are making this one unit, that means there’s going to be a change in mouth position. 

Because if we didn’t change the mouth position, then the sound would stay the same. And,  

actually that’s one of the biggest problems have with diphthong, is that they don’t change their  

mouth position so they end up just making a single vowel sound. Rather than changing the  

mouth position and getting two different  sounds, thus making a diphthong. Also,  

you asked me in one of those podcasts on  vowels, how many diphthongs there were,  

so there are eleven vowels in English. And, for diphthongs there are--most people would say five.

David: Okay.

Rachel: But it depends a little bit on who you ask, which I think is interesting. Like, not everybody in the  

world agrees on this. I actually, in my book, I actually say that there are six, so I add one more  

to the standard five that most people say. And, I’m definitely looking forward to discussing that  

with you today. Why did I add the sixth diphthong? Also, I’m not the only one who said this, I didn’t  

just like make this diphthong up, there are also a lot of other people who call this a diphthong,  

but there are lots of people who don’t. So, what’s up with this diphthong that some people say,  

“Yeah, it’s a diphthong” and other people  say, “That’s not a diphthong.” I’m talking  

about you the diphthong you and we will  get into that during this discussion.

So, David, there’s one sentence  that I found on the internet,  

it’s not even a sentence, it’s like a  three-word phrase that contains each  

one of these five diphthongs. I’m going  to say the sentence, No highway cowboys.

David: [Laughs] Okay.

Rachel: So, let’s think about that. “O” “No”.  

The word no has the “O” diphthong. Highway. Can you identify the two diphthongs there? Highway.

David: [Laughs] No.

Rachel: Well, think--let’s just take the word high.

David: High.

Rachel: What’s the consonant?

David: “I”. [Laughs]

Rachel: That’s not a consonant.

David: Hi, “H”.

Rachel: Yes, that’s right “H” is a consonant. So,  

if you take away “H” what are  you left with in the word Hi?

David: IGW.

Rachel: How’s it pronounced?

David: “I”.

Rachel: Right. So, that’s the “I” diphthong. So, the word was highway, 

so now we have, let’s break it up, way. What’s the consonant there?

David: “W”.

Rachel: Okay. So,  

take away the “W” sound, what are you left with?

David: “A”.

Rachel: Yes, that’s another diphthong. 

“A” as in say or way. Okay, now the third--

David: Hold on a second.

Rachel: What?

David: That’s one sound -- “A”.

Rachel: Right. It’s one diphthong sounds.

David: But I thought  

dipthongs--diphthongs had two mouth positions.  

Rachel: Will you say the word, say?

David: Say.

Rachel: Okay,  

now I’m going to say the word say, watch my mouth. Saaayy. Did you see a change in how--

David: Oh wow. Mm-hmm.

Rachel: I gotta say  

to everyone out there listening, I had no idea that David would be this jammed by diphthongs.

David: [Laughs]

Rachel: I mean, like  

it’s so funny to you--it’s so strongly  associated with it just being one sound  

that you can’t even wrap your head around  the fact that it’s actually a two part sound.

David: No,  

I’m laughing really hard because you’re  pretty annoyed with me [laughs] right now.

Rachel: No.

David: But it speaks to how subtle it is.

Rachel: Yeah.

David: You hear it extremely clearly  

every time, and I’m like, I don’t understand  what you’re talking about, you’re saying “A”.

Rachel: Mm-hmm.

David: That’s a sound.

Rachel: Okay, let’s finish  

these two up and then I’m going to talk about one of the big problems that non-native speakers have.

David: Okay.

Rachel: Okay. So, the last word is cowboys. 

So, let’s break it up into two parts, so cow. What’s the consonant sound?

David: Ka.

Rachel: Mm-hmm. And what are you left with?

David: Ow.

Rachel: Yes, so that’s another diphthong, ow. 

And then boy. You know what even the--why even make that plural,  

that should be singular. No highway cowboy. Okay, so boy. What’s the consonant sound there?

David: Ba.

Rachel: Which leaves you?

David: Oy.

Rachel: Yes. So,  

that’s the fifth diphthong - oy. So, we have  “O’, “I”, “A”, “Ow”, “Oy”. So, now David was  

saying that’s just one sound, but let me, let me show you what it looks like if it’s one sound and  

tell me if it sounds normal to you. I’m going to take, uh, well let’s start with no. “O” so, my  

jaw is more dropped, my lips are more  open and then for the end “Ooow” they  

round more so the jaw drops less. One  thing that students to is this, “no”.

David: Mmm. Okay.

Rachel: My mouth is not moving at all for that sound - Noooo ooo ooo 

and it doesn’t sound right does it?

David: No.

Rachel: Mm-mm. No, it needs  

the jaw drop and then the lip rounding,  it needs both parts. Another, um,  

common mix up is with the “A” diphthong. People will say something like “Eh eh’’ Highweh”

David: Okay.

Rachel: Weh. Now,  

it’s similar, right? You  almost think, wait that is it.

David: Mm-hmm.

Rachel: But then when you hear  

it in a word, it’s not really it. “Weh” “ehhh”  mouth isn’t moving at all, so it’s not diphthong.

David: It’s such  

a great little example actually of why  your method is so powerful. I--because  

I think the mistake that I’m making is  from thinking first about how it looks  

on the paper kind of. I, I mean, highway. You know, I see “A”, there’s a “y” there, but--

Rachel: Yeah, you see “ay”

David: Yeah. But, that’s just, I, I--

Rachel: No, you’re right. Sometimes  

words like the word “no” you just see the single letter “o”, right? But I’m saying it’s two sounds  

as part of the diphthong “OH”.

David: I think in, in learning to read I’m taught that even in highway, “ay” makes the sound “a”.

Rachel: Yeah. No,  

it’s true. When Americans are taught reading and sounds, it’s definitely a little bit different.

David: Yeah.

Rachel: Maybe that’s why you’re having a hard time.

David: Yeah. And I’m just,  

I’m trying to wrap my head around and thinking about it from your students’ perspective.

Rachel: Mm-hmm.

David: It’s so tempting to go  

first to what’s written, when really I think  what’s so helpful, is breaking out of that.

Rachel: Mm-hmm.

David: And, you know, when I’m here in the room 

and you’re saying, well watch my mouth move.

Rachel: Yeah.

David: In essence, you’re giving me a mini lesson in your method, then it’s so obvious.

Rachel: Yeah. Well and a lot of students  

come from--or some students will be coming from languages with no diphthongs. So then, you have  

to really watch the mouth of a native speaker and say, okay, yeah, I see a change in mouth position  

is definitely happening, so I know my way of doing it isn’t right. Actually, this takes me to  

a YouTube video that I recently recorded where I was talking about how Stoney is learning language.  

And how when, you know, you’re holding him so he’s pretty close to you, and you’re  

talking to him, how sometimes  he’s looking right at your mouth.

David: Oh, right. Mm-hmm.

Rachel: Just so focused on it.

David: Mm-hmm.

Rachel: Because he’s studying the  

visual of what he’s hearing, plus, you know,  the oral part of what he’s hearing and he’s  

got both of those information streams going in to help him develop his language skills.

David: And sometimes his little mouth is going silently.

Rachel: Oh yeah.

David: But his muscles,  

his mouth muscles are imitating without--what would you say? Without voicing the sound?

Rachel: Yeah.

David: But you can see  

that he’s imitating mouth position.

Rachel: Yeah. It’s so funny. He’s sitting there as you’re  

talking, staring at your mouth and then his little lips are kind of twitching into these positions.

David: Right.

Rachel: It’s so cute. But, yeah, so in this video I  

was talking about, you know, how as you’re laying a foundation for the sounds and understanding the  

changes you have to make based on your native language. Watching the mouth movements of a  

native speaker is, I think, really helpful. And, actually, I have a whole set of videos  

that go over each of the sounds  of American English where there  

is some footage that is a very up-close  snapshot of my mouth moving in slow motion.

David: Right.

Rachel: So, I will put a link to that  

playlist in the show notes for this podcast. Be sure to check those videos if you haven’t already.

David: Yeah, that’s  

interesting. Right before you said that, I was thinking about those exact videos and how when  

you were recording them and you guys did a pretty incredible job of using the technology  

to slow it down and really show detail. And, I remember, in mind at the time, being like, wow,  

is that necessary to do all of that detail  and what can you really see from, you know,  

from watching. And, I don’t know, I don’t think I actually, truly got that until this morning.

Rachel: Yeah,  

I mean it was a lot of effort to get those shots.

David: Right. I guess that’s what I remember. 

Is-you-it took a tremendous amount of work. But in, in my  

mini lesson this morning, I’m seeing the value. I’m going to go back and watch some of those.

Rachel: Yeah, no, they’re cool. I’ll make sure I link  

to them you guys. Well, let’s go over these five diphthongs and then we’ll talk about the sixth  

one. So, the “A” diphthong like in say, can be spelled eleven different ways, or so, in American  

English that I’ve found so far. So, there’s the “A” and then there’s usually a consonant and then  

the “E” like in the word base or in the word pace. We spell it “AI” like in the word maid. We spell  

it “AU” like in the word gauge. That one’s weird. Gauge is just a weird spelling, I should look up  

the origin of that word. We spell it “AY” like  in the word pay. “EA” like in the word great.

So, as I’m naming all these different  spellings for a sound, you can see how  

you’re not going to necessarily know how a word is pronounced when you see the spelling,  

because there’s so many different  spellings for any one sound. And,  

so many different spellings can make  multiple sounds. It’s really overwhelming.

David: I’m also thinking too,  

just--this is a quick encouragement. If  you haven’t downloaded the transcripts yet,  

I mean as you’re talking, I’m watching  the screen as you’re going through it--  

Rachel: Mm-hmm.

David: --and it’s really  

helpful to look and see as you’re going through them. So definitely pop over and download the  

transcript. It’s free and just I think it would  be really helpful to watch as you’re listening.

Rachel: Yeah, that’s a  

good point. Even for people who  are understanding everything,  

sometimes if you get the transcript and  you’re following along with the visual as  

you’re listening. Which you can’t always because some people to podcasts when they're driving.

David: Yeah, yeah absolutely.

Rachel: But when you can, I do think that for  

this podcast in particular, it would be helpful. So, “A” can also be spelled with a single letter  

“E” like in the word café. It can be spelled with two “Es” like in the word puree. It can be spelled  

“EI” like in the word veil, or “IEG” like in  the word reign. Or, wait. Did I say, “IEG”?

David: You said IE by accident I think.

Rachel: Okay, thank you for  

catching me. The word reign, it’s spelled e-i-g, reign, that’s different than rain, which is also  

pronounced rain. Those two words are  homophones. Reign would be a reign,  

like for example you could say, the reign  of Queen Elizabeth as she’s been ruling.

David: Or, the reins to control a horse.

Rachel: Right, that’s also  

spelled R-E-I-G-N. But rain, spelled R-A-I-N,  is that which comes from the sky. Wet drops  

from the sky. Okay, it can be spelled “EIGH” like in the word weigh. David, how much do you weigh?

David: Good one.

Rachel: Good one. Um, you know, and of course  

this word is pronounced just like W-A-Y where “AY” makes the diphthong, so two different ways to  

spell weigh. And then they  it’s spelled “EY” they.  

David: Also, never ask people how much they weigh.

Rachel: No, I know. That was a joke.  

That’s very rude. I’m assuming it’s rude in most cultures, but it’s definitely rude in American  

culture. So, the mouth position for “A”, David, watch my mouth, “A” how would you describe it?

David: Do it again.

Rachel: “A”, “A”.

David: Um, your mouth starts fairly open and then slowly drops to a lower position,  

but it doesn’t bounce the whole way to a lower position. It goes slowly to it. Slides to it.

Rachel: A, it actually starts at the lower position. A. 

David: Your lips are open wide, and then shrink.

Rachel: Oh, okay. You meant lips. I thought you were  

talking jaw drop. Yes, it starts with more jaw drop, and the lips are further apart. And then,  

as the, as I go through the diphthong, my jaw drops less, so my lips are closer together.  

And what my tongue is doing is, the tip stays at the back of the bottom front teeth, but it  

starts arching up towards the roof of the mouth, and that's what brings the jaw up. A. Try that.

David: A.

Rachel: You have a beautiful  

native-sounding A diphthong, David. Okay, we also talked about I, the I diphthong. This can be  

spelled nine different ways from what I've found. The letter Y, like in the word why, W-H-Y. There,  

the letter Y is making the I diphthong.  Also, ye, like in bye, B-Y-E. The letter I,  

like in time. Now, there it's I-consonant-E, and I think that's a pretty common combination. Time,  

to make an I diphthong. It can be spelled  ie, like in lie. Don’t lie to me. It can be  

spelled uy, like in buy. I would like  to buy this. It can be spelled igh,  

like in sigh. There's a sigh. It can be spelled eigh, like in height. David, what's your height?  

David: 5’8”.

Rachel: 5’8”, solid.

David: And a half.

Rachel: And a half. Do  

not forget that half. It can be spelled ai, like in aisle. Like grocery aisle. Talk about a weird  

spelling for a word. Ai-silent S-le. Aisle.  And it can be spelled aye, which is outdated,  

but it's a way to say yes. Aye. Aye. Okay, and how is, what is the mouth position for this? I.

David: Lots a jaw drop at the beginning, and lips far apart. 

Rachel: Mm-hmm.  

The mouth position is similar to A, but  the tongue is doing something different.  

I. For the jaw drop, it's lifting more  in the back. I. I. Why? My. Bye. Okay,  

-ow. I was only able to find three spellings of this diphthong. Ow, like in cow. Now. Wow. Ou,  

like in round. Loud. Hour. Or ough, like in  bough, like a Christmas tree. Bough. Branch.

David: Mm-hmm.

Rachel: Yes,  

okay. Ow. So, here's another one where  I'm going from more jaw drop to less,  

but my lips are doing something  different here. David, what is it? Ow.

David: They,  

they come to a really tight  rounded position at the end.

Rachel: Yeah. They're rounding.

David: Relaxed at first, and then tensed and rounded.

Rachel: Jaw drop, relaxed lips, tongue lifts in the  

back, and then lip rounding. Ow. Let me ask you something, David. If you, if I pointed out this  

word, which is the word now, N-O-W, and I said, is there a W consonant in that? What would you say?  

David: Yes.

Rachel: Yeah. It's not, though.  

The thing that's so weird is when I'm coming up with all of these word lists for different  

things for my online school, I've noticed that no sounds in English end in the W consonant or  

in the Y consonant, but so many words end in the W consonant. But it's making a diphthong like ow.

David: But you're,  

you're, you're teaching right now that the  ow diphthong is the name of the diphthong?

Rachel: It's in the ow as  

in now diphthong, whatever, yeah. It's the ow diphthong. But there's no W consonant in it,  

and it seems like there would be. When you look at it on a page, it seems like, oh,  

there's a W there. When I tell people that no words in American English end in the W sound,  

they're like, that's ridiculous. But we're  talking sounds, and the W sound is wuh. And  

there are no words in English that end in that. That would be now-uh, but it's not. It's now.

David: Let me try a couple.

Rachel: Okay.

David: Yellow. No.

Rachel: No, that ends in the O diphthong.

David: Way. Way. No.

Rachel: Well, that starts with a W.

David: That's a great point.

Rachel: Were you  

thinking it ending in a W sound?  David needs more coffee, people.  

David: Wow.

Rachel: But that  

actually brought up the other point,  that it ends in the Y, the letter Y,  

and a, and no, no words in American  English end in the Y sound, either.

David: That's generous of you to make a point out of that. 

Rachel: Well, because it's always making either a vowel or a diphthong,  

like in the word pretty. It's the E vowel in the word  

Y. It's the I part of the I diphthong. Anyway,  just an interesting thing about spelling. Lots  

of words in English will end with the letter Y or the letter W, but no words in English actually  

end in those sounds, because those letters are always making different sounds in the words. Okay,  

moving on. O. The O diphthong. This can be spelled oa, like in oat. Oatmeal. It can be spelled O,  

like in go. It can be spelled ow, like in  row. It can be spelled oe, like in foe. 

Friend or foe, David? You are a friend. You are not a foe. It can be spelled oo, like in brooch.  

It can be spelled ou, like in soul. It can be  spelled au, like in chauffer. And it can be  

spelled eau, like in beau. Before I got married to David, he was my beau. I don't know. Can you still  

be my beau now that we're married? I don’t think so. Beau implies that you're not married, right?

David: I can be your boo, but not your beau.

Rachel: My boo. You said boo,  

but, and it sounded like boob because of the way B connected to the word. Oh, man. Linking  

in American English. That's a whole other episode. So, I wanted to talk for a second about the words  

B-O-W and C-O-W. So, we have bow, like B-O-W.  You might tie a bow in your hair. So, there,  

ow is pronounced O, but it can also be bow. Like at the end of a show, you might take a bow. People  

are applauding you. Bow. So, there, it's spelled just like cow, except for the first consonant,  

and they sound the same. But bow, spelled bow, can be the these two different words, pronounced  

totally differently. And it's just, it's just one  of these crazy things about English, the English  

language. Like, if I'm making up a word list and I want a, I'm hiring a voiceover artist to, uh,  

record it for me, I have to always think, now, wait. Can this be pronounced more than one way?  

And then I have to say what pronunciation I want. Like, I was, I was hiring somebody to do a list  

of words. I don’t remember what I was specifically going for, but I wanted to make sure they said bow  

her instead of bow. So, I said in parenthesis, like a bow you would put in your hair.

David: Mm-hmm.

Rachel: And if I had meant the other one,  I might have said in parenthesis,  

a bow like what you would do after a  performance when people are applauding for you.

David: Mm-hmm.

Rachel: Anyway. Oh,  

American English spelling. Okay. The last one of the standard five is oy. And I could only find  

two ways that we spell this. This is, like,  the, the smallest number of spellings that I  

could find for any vowel or diphthong in American English. It wins the prize for simplest spelling,  

and it's either oi, like in moist or noisy or  join, coin, boil. Or it's spelled oy, like in joy,  

enjoy, boy, toy. Oy. Oy. Oy. Now, David, how  would you describe that mouth position? Oy.

David: Starting  

with rounded lips and a little bit  of jaw drop, but I would—do it again.

Rachel: Oy. Oy.

David: And then, your, your lips flare out to the side.

Rachel: Well, I would say they relax.

David: Oh.

Rachel: They go from being rounded to being relaxed.

David: Okay.

Rachel: Mm-hmm. Yeah. This one is probably the one that  

is easiest for students to get. I think I'm least often making corrections for this one. Okay. And  

the final diphthong, the U diphthong. Now, David, when I first started this project nine years ago  

in my dorm room in Germany, I had to make these  choices about how I was going to represent things  

going forward. And, of course, when you're  making choices like that, and organizational  

choices at the beginning of something, you may find at the end that there are things you would  

done differently, because at the end, you've gone through all of this learning and using of  

things. And you think, oh, this actually works better here. So, I'm, I'm trying to decide in  

retrospect if I would call this a diphthong, and I, I think I still would. The thing I just need  

to say about it is, we're talking about the  two different sounds together making one unit.

And the first one is actually a consonant. Well, diphthongs are usually two vowel sounds together,  

but here we're talking about the Y consonant, yih. Yih. With the -ooh diphthong. I'm sorry,  

with the -ooh vowel, U, to make that diphthong. And sometimes those two sounds together are this  

diphthong, and sometimes they're just  a consonant and a vowel. I think that's  

how I would change my definition of it.  These two sounds together aren't always  

being a diphthong. Sometimes they're being a consonant and a vowel. But David, do you  

remember at the beginning of the podcast when we were talking about cowboys, and I was saying cow? 

Break out the consonant. And you said, K,  and the diphthong and you said ow. Okay,  

let's do that again. The word few.  Can you break out of the consonant?

David: Fuh.

Rachel: And the rest of the word.

David: You. Few.

Rachel: Few. Okay,  

let's talk about the word stay.  Can you break away the consonant?

David: S-T.

Rachel: Right, because there,  

there were two, so you took  away the cluster. And then—

David: A.

Rachel: Yes. Okay, so, let's do few again.

David: F-U.

Rachel: Yes. See, this is why here,  

I would say it's working as a diphthong, because you did not put the  

yih sound with F. You did not think that  F-yih was the consonant cluster, and then  

ooh was the vowel. That makes no sense, really. We feel it as an F consonant and a U diphthong.  

David: Yeah.

Rachel: But, yeah,  

the Y sound is actually a consonant  sound. So, why don’t we feel it as a  

part of a consonant cluster? Like, with stay, you very clearly felt that S-T was a cluster.

David: Yeah.

Rachel: To be broken  

away. So, I don't know, but the point is—go ahead.

David: No, well,  

if I do few again, F-U. Few. I'm just, part of  what's interesting from beginning a podcast and  

a podcast, even as my mouth is doing the U, I feel the movement as I'm making the sound  

in a way that I would have never thought of  or noticed before, before 20 minutes ago.

Rachel: Yeah.

David: It was just interesting  

to think, because as, as you're learning it,  there's some bodily feedback that you can get,  

too, to know that you're doing  it right. Like, you can sort of,  

you hear yourself making the sound, but you also feel yourself making the sound in, in a way that—I  

don't know. There's two different kinds of  feedback coming back to you as the speaker.

Rachel: So, now, you're feeling this very smooth  

motion of the two different mouth movements here. U. U.

David: Mm-hmm.

Rachel: Mm-hmm.

David: And after watching you,  

then knowing that that's, it feels  right because it feels like what I  

saw you do.

Rachel: Mm-hmm. David, I want to do  one more breakdown with you,  

and have you break down the word into—separate out consonants and vowel or diphthongs.

David: Okay.

Rachel: And let's see what happens. 

This word, U-S-E. So, go ahead. The word use.

David: U.

Rachel: Mm-hmm.

David: Uz.

Rachel: Yeah. U-Z. So,  

David broke that down into the U  diphthong and the Z sound. So, to you,  

you wouldn't have said yih is the consonant, ooh is the vowel, and Z is the consonant.

David: Mm-mmm.

Rachel: No. And yet, there are some places  

where there are some ways in which I think it does function as a consonant vowel, but very often,  

it functions like a diphthong. U. Two sounds, smoothly going together, and it, it always makes  

sense in these cases where the Y is feeling like part of a diphthong, rather than a cluster. Rather  

than a consonant as part of a cluster or beginning a word. Okay, so, anyway, that's my argument for  

why I've classified as a diphthong, because when you break down words, it, it often just feels like  

it makes sense as part of a diphthong unit. The why makes sense with a vowel more than it does  

with the consonant, like the word music. You would say, m-u-z-ik. You wouldn't say m-yih-ooh. Right?

David: Right.

Rachel: Yeah. So,  

there, the Y consonant, the Y  sound makes much more sense as  

a diphthong with U than it does as a  consonant cluster with M. Myih. Myih.  

David: Mm-hmm.

Rachel: So, okay, how can  

you spell this sound? You can spell it u, like in use or music or union. You can spell it ew,  

like in few. You can spell it eu, like in feud.  You can spell it eau, like in beauty. Yeah, so,  

that's the U diphthong. And just so people  out there know, I do think sometimes,  

when you see the Y and the ooh sounds together, you can think of the Y sound as being more of a  

consonant. I'm trying to think of a good example. Like, in the phrase I thought you said that  

already. There, I'm saying thought  you, and I'm making thought a stop T,  

which we do before consonants. But if, if the U here was really functioning as a diphthong,  

then it would be a flap T because of that rule. So, I think the Y consonant-U vowel combination,  

ooh vowel combination can function more as a consonant-vowel in rules like with the T  

pronunciations. For example, which we've actually done a podcast on T pronunciations. That's when  

I've really noticed that it's working more as  a consonant-vowel than as a diphthong. But for  

the most part, I, I still think that this should  be classified as a diphthong much of the time,  

just because of how it works. Just because of what the mouth  

does with it. Okay, and for the U  diphthong, David, watch my mouth. U. U.

David: That one’s more subtle.

Rachel: It's harder, yeah. There's,  

because there's not a lot of jaw drop. All  of the others have quite a bit of jaw drop.

David: Mm-hmm.

Rachel: In, in one of the sounds. 

The jaw doesn't drop as much, but the lips go from being more relaxed to  

rounding. And then, the tongue is really  kind of working inside. U. Yih. Yih. It's  

against the roof of the mouth for the  yih, and then it pulls away. U. U.

David: Mm-hmm.

Rachel: Mm-hmm. Okay, guys. So, 

those are the diphthongs, and you may find a few other resources that list other diphthongs. If so,  

be careful. It might be a British English resource that you're looking at. If you want to see a video  

that goes over each one of these diphthongs, check out my Sounds of America English playlist,  

which I'm putting in the show notes. David,  thanks for being here and discussing diphthongs  

with me. It was fun, because I feel like  I really saw you think about speech in,  

in a new way.

David: I had a great time, and I, you're right.  That's, uh, I really learned something.

Rachel: Cool. Well, I hope everyone out there listening did, too. 

And remember, as always, you can get a free copy of  

this transcript at rachelsenglish.com/podcast.  Just look for this episode.

And guys, I would love it if you would share this podcast with your friends and family. 

It's still new, and I'm just really trying to reach people out there. 

So, if you enjoy this podcast, please pass it on. Also, be sure that you subscribe. 

You can do so in the iTunes store or on Stitcher, and please leave a review. 

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podcast. So, that's it for this week, everybody.  We'll see you next week. Looking forward to it.

David: See you later, everybody.