Diphthong is a Greek word which means “double sound”. The articulation of diphthongs involves a glide from one vowel quality to the other. A diphthong is therefore a vowel which changes its quality in the process of its articulation.
/ei/ e.g. gate, cake, take, place, date, gauge etc.
/əᴜ/ e.g. home, go, owl, own, road, load, coat etc
/ai/ e.g. high, buy, five, rice, write, kite, fry, price etc.
/au/ e.g. how, cloud, out, house, blouse, browse etc.
/Ɔi/ e.g. boy, joy, toy, oil, toil coin, boil etc .
/iə/ e.g. here, ear, idea, fear, beer ,rear etc.
/eə/ e.g. air, their, where, hair, fair etc
/ᴜә/ e.g. during, pure, sure, tour…
EVALUATION
Indicate the diphthong used in the following words e.g. Eye – /ai/
coat –
spy –
point –
tape –
tour –
ASPECT: SPEECH WORK
Consonant Contrast /s/, /ʒ/
To pronounce /s/, the tip of the tongue is raised towards the root/ridge of the front teeth. The sides of the tongue touch the upper teeth. There is a little opening between the tongue and the teeth. The air from the mouth passes through this opening. No activity is going on in the voice box. /s/ is a voiceless consonant. When there is a lot of noise in a place of meeting sometimes we use /s/ to make people keep quiet: shshsh…….
To pronounce /ʒ/, the tongue remains in the position for /s/ but we use the air from the lungs.
Activity is going on in the voice box. /ʒ/ is a voiced consonant.
In written English, /s/ is spelt in the following forms.
Sh (shut, shore, cushion…), ch (machine, chalet, chassis…), ce (ocean…), ti (nation), ci (ancient, special, species…)
Notice that in written English, /ʒ/ may be spelt in any of the following forms.
S (measure, pleasure, visual,….), si (decision, confusion, division,….), g (garage, regime, genre,….).
/s/ /ʒ/
mission vision
marshal measure
pressure pleasure
shave save
addition division
pleasant pleasure
Sentences
/s/ is heard in the following sentences.
Shut the door please
Parts of Lagos is on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean
I want only two cubes of sugar in my tea.
The ancient Songhai empire was destroyed.
Do you know the passion flower?
/ʒ/ is heard in the following sentences.
You need a ruler to measure this room.
There are two garages for our cars.
The referee’s decision is final in a match.
Usually our day begins with prayers.
In a democratic regime people vote to elect their leaders.
EVALUATION
Write out five words each for consonants /s/ and /ʒ/.
ASSIGNMENT
Underline the /ʒ/ consonant from the following sentences.
The man has lost his vision; he is blind.
The casualty ward of the hospital is empty.
I spend my leisure time reading novels.
His regime as president was peaceful.
We need revision exercises before our exam.