English Pronunciation Tip of the Day
Tip 92
Category:
Smoothing
Author: JAM
Smoothing
Smoothing is a fairly common phenomenon in present-day English. It affects the diphthongs /eI aI aU/ when they are immediately followed by a weak vowel, especially /@/. The end of the diphthong is omitted, so that, for example,
eI + @ > e@
Here are some examples
| player | /pleI@/ | OR | /ple@/ |
| higher | /haI@/ | OR | /ha@/ |
| power | /paU@/ | OR | /pa@/ |
Smoothing also occurs with the diphthong /@U/, but in this case the result is the monophthong /3:/
| mower | /m@U@/ | OR | /m3:/ |
Notice that the distinction between /aI/ and /aU/ may disappear when smoothing takes place, so that for some speakers tire and tower, for instance, sound the same.