# Diphthongs and diphthongised vowels



## bieq

Hello... AGAIN! 

In a previous thread, I discussed the topic about the diphthongization of the long vowel e. I was explained that in the Netherlands, [eː] becomes [eːi], [eˑi] or even [ei]. Now, my question is: "*Does this also happen to the long vowel o, which instead of being pronounced as [o**ː] is more likely to be pronounced as [o**ʊ]?*"

Thank you for your help, guys.

Ben


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## Joannes

Yes. And apart from /eˑ/ and /oˑ/ there's also the neglected one /øˑ/ (<eu> in writing), which is often diphtongized towards [y] in the Netherlands.


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## bieq

Hey,

Is [y] a diphthong? I thought it was the phonetic symbol for uu in writing.

Ben


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## Grytolle

He means that the diftongized version of /eu/ (normally: [øˑ]) glides from ø to y: [øˑy]

It's actually just a w-difton, but since you don't move your tounge back to the position of  ([w] is a "cut-off" ), you get a cut off ü [y] as second part


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## Lieven

This is especially strong in the dialects from Holland (the western, urban part of the Netherlands). In other dialects it may be less, and Flemish uses almost no diphthongs at all. The ui and the ij, which are very clearly diphthongs in Dutch are flat vowels in Flemish as well. I'm not really sure about the ou, but I think it's quite flat as well.


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## Joannes

Lieven said:


> I'm not really sure about the ou, but I think it's quite flat as well.


Depends on the dialect.. In the province of East-Flanders <ou>/<au> may be pronounced as a monophtong, but in most regions it's not.

Zeg, enneuh, '_flat_ vowels' ?!


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## Forero

Long _u_ (or _uw_) is also a diphthong (in Holland and Friesland at least).


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## Joannes

Forero said:


> Long _u_ (or _uw_) is also a diphthong (in Holland and Friesland at least).



Really? How is it pronounced then?


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## Forero

Joannes said:


> Really? How is it pronounced then?


Like short _u_ (front rounded) plus an offglide like /w/ or tense /o/ (the IPA symbol is like a lowercase omega).  The same offglide is used for _ieuw_.


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## Joannes

Right, for *uw* that's not unusual. I hadn't noticed it for other instances. (I'm thinking maybe I did with words that have /yr/ but maybe that's just about the /r/ in the Netherlands..)


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