Quoting Benct Philip Jonsson <bpj@...>:
> R A Brown skrev:
> > representation where the second element is denoted by a [i] or [u] with
> > the small inverted breve beneath it. Those diphthongs are also often
> > denoted as [ai] and [au] or as [aI] and [aU]. In normal speech the
> > tongue rarely, if ever, reaches that second position. For example,
> > English /aj/ is often realized (by those who actually use a diphthong)
> > as [aI] or [ae], with the second element being non-syllabic.
>
> It is definitely [ae] to my ear, but my L1 has no [I]
You have no [I]? What vowel do you have in, say, _min_?
> and no true diphthongs -- e.g. |aj| being [Az\] as
> often as not.
I'm tempted to analyze Swedish Vj as diphthongs - partly because V:j is
essentially absent - but I'm not gonna be obnoxious about it. I'm unrepentantly
obnoxious, however, about [au] in eg. _paus_ being a true diphthong!
> I am a semi-native speaker of German,
> but I've seen German |ei| transcribed as [ae] as well...
[ae] is probably the commonest transcription in my experience.
Andreas