I’ve tried google but I haven’t been getting far
In: Other
There are some great explanations below, but we can step back a bit further. The vowel sounds you were taught in primary school were not the full story. Whilst written English has five letters we call vowels, it has many more vowel _sounds_.
This can be hard to exaplain in text, so I’m going to link to the famous linguist [Adrian Underhill’s videos](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbEWGLATRxw_2hL5hY164nvHdTpwhEOXC) which introduce “monophthongs” in English with voice but also a diagram. Note that monophthongs can be short (i in hit) or long (ea in heat) but they still count as one sound. Linguists and his diagram have a little symbol for extra long ones that looks a bit like a colon (:). He then goes explains “diphthongs” which are compound vowel sounds made of two monopthongs. “Triphthongs” are simply that but made of _three_ vowel sounds, the most notable in English being the ‘our’ in hour, sour and power (note that these are sounds, not spelling, hence power being included).
The idea of course extends to other languages.
Latest Answers