Fronted high back vowel /u/

Tue Dec 22 12:01:47 UTC 2009

On Tue, 22 Dec 2009 01:12:12 Zulu plua 0000 (apparently he's writing from London, England) Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM> asked:

>Does anyone really hold that vowel plus glide equals a diphthong?  Just
>about all vowels can be said with glides before certain other sounds.
>Do they sometimes become diphthongs and other times not?

Pardon my ignorance, but I too would like an answer to this question.

I know that the vowels in "reign" and "stein" are diphthongs, but I remember someone (Mark Mandel?) stating that in English the vowel of "seize" is also a diphthong, which baffles me.  Are the vowels of "beaux" and (ignoring the initial /y/ sound) of "beaut" also diphthongs?\

    - Jim Landau (who at least is aware that his surname ends in a diphthong)

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