019 AIR as in Fair
3: The 13 Compound Vowels: 8 Diphthongs, 5 Triphthongs
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2m 24s
The next lip diphthong is
19 AIR as in “fair”
Which we make by combining “e” as in “Glen” with the neutral vowel “uh” as in “actor”. E-uh AIR.
This sound is very frequently just cut clean in half. Instead of “The air there is fair.” We hear “The e the…”. Many students can find this sound very difficult to make - not because it is difficult in itself, but because they are just not used to making it. An easy way to make this vowel is to say “ever” and then say it again without the “v”: AIR.
Up Next in 3: The 13 Compound Vowels: 8 Diphthongs, 5 Triphthongs
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020 OOR as in Poor
The final lip diphthong is:
20 OOR as in “poor”.
This is the short monophthong “oo” as in “book” followed by the neutral vowel “uh” as in “actor”. For my U.K. students, I call this sound the “Carry On” vowel because so many characters in those old comedy movies could be frequently heard to ex...
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021 IRE as in Fire
The Triphthongs are nice and easy to close with - they are 5 of the diphthongs with the neutral vowel at the end:
EYE followed by uh gives us: IRE as in “fire”
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022 OUR as in Power
This triphthong can also be shortened to just AH as in o.u.r as in “are country” - the full sound is “our”: “our country”.
