Re: triphtong

Henrik Theiling wrote:

>Hi!
>
>Joe <joe@...> writes:
>
>
>># 1 wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>>In my dictionnary (a French dictionnary), at the word "triphtong"
>>>(triphtongue) it says the normal stuff: a vowel that changes two
>>>times but they give as example the english word "fire"
>>>
>>>Does fire contain a triphong? probably something like /6i@/?
>>>
>>>Before reading this, I thought that fire were /f6j@`/ and that
>>>English didn't contain triphtongs
>>>
>>>But it is a French dictionnary from France so I can't be sure about
>>>their English knowledge
>>>
>>>Might someone tell me?
>>>
>>>
>>It's a triphthong in my British dialect.  [fAi@].  In American
>>English, I believe it's more like [fAjr=].  Also, see 'hour' [aU@],
>>IME.
>>
>>
>
>Doesn't it need to be one syllable to be a triphthong?  I never
>thought Japanese 'blue/green' = 'aoi' was a triphthong, but it fact
>three monophthongs.  I'd say that 'fire' and 'hour' should be two
>syllables, no?  I perceive them as:
>
>    hour   [aU@]  /aU).@/   not /a_U_@/   (no CXS for a triphthong...)
>    fire   [fAi@] /fAi).@/  not /fA_i_@/
>
>
I'd describe them both as monosyllables, at least the way I say them.

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