Talk:Non-syllabic vowel

rephrase ?

"The easiest transcription is to write these as approximants", where "these" refers to "diphthongs", or "non-syllabic vowel" ? Jerome Potts 04:29, 1 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

There are no diphthongs?

In languages such as Japanese and many Polynesian languages, every vocalic segment constitutes a separate syllable or mora. That is, there are no diphthongs.

Japanese has no diphthongs? What about: ya, yu, yo, wa, and a number of syllables that incorporate the y sounds (kya, kyu, kyo, etc.)? Aren't those diphthongs? - furrykef (Talk at me) 10:15, 13 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I addition to ya, etc, and the devoiced vowels in kya, etc, there's also the following. - Renee Cousins (207.229.11.58 20:18, 13 April 2007 (UTC))[reply]

Just as in English, the Japanese language uses diphthongs (putting 2 or more vowel sounds together at once). The most common are "ai", "ei", and "oi", though, as mathematics dictates, there are many more permutations. Diphthongs are rather straightforward, however. Since the sounds of the pure vowels that make up these sounds themselves do not change, I don't need to discuss them in that much detail.

http://www.angelfire.com/geek/tetrisnomiko/pronunciation.html

But those "diphthongs" are still split into two morae. For example, "hai" is twice as long as "ha". I believe what this article was trying to say is that because "hai" is split into two morae, the "ai" isn't a diphthong. (I don't know, myself.) But, even if that's the case, just because two consecutive vowel characters never form a diphthong doesn't mean the language doesn't have any diphthongs. - furrykef (Talk at me) 03:25, 14 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ya, yu, yo, and wa are ascending diphthongs. If I understand the article well, most linguists do not regard ascending diphthongs as true diphthongs (vowel + semivowel), but rather as approximant + vowel combinations.

I admit that the article is a little vague on this, though (as are related ones). FilipeS 18:50, 5 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

In Japanese, syllables/morae are mostly of the form CV, V, and N. Whatever the phonetic details, /j/ and /w/ behave phonologically as consonants, not vowels. This is similar to the argument that English /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ are single consonants, not clusters. Although phonetically hai may become a diphthong in casual speech, it is [ha.i] when clearly enunciated, something that never happens with English high. Polynesian vowels are broadly similar. kwami (talk) 07:05, 23 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Merge into Semivowel?

Should this article be merged into semivowel? They seem to be equivalent concepts. FilipeS 17:54, 24 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

This is a good suggestion. This article isn't too well organized, and most information can be put into semivowel anyway. I'd propose the merge. Keith Galveston (talk) 05:08, 23 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]