Front, closing and wide.
For the articulation of RP/aɪ/, the glide begins at a point slight1y behind the front open position [ä], approaching RP /ɑ/, and moves in the direction of RP/ɪ/ nearer to a centralised half-close position [ё˕]. The closing movement of the lower jaw is obvious and the lips change from a neutral to a loosely spread position. Before [ɫ], the second segment tends to be absorbed into [ə] or [ʊ] glide (e.g. tile [taːəɫ]). Similar to the diphthong found in the Spanish word aire (Span 'air'), the starting point of RP /aɪ/ is close to any of the variants of the Spanish glide, but the end-point is more relaxed than in Spanish.
| <i, y> | life /laɪf/, idle /ˈaɪdl̩/ , asylum /əˈsaɪləm/ , scythe /saɪð/ | ||||||||||
| <i, ye, y> | lie /laɪ/ , bye /baɪ/ , dry /draɪ/ | ||||||||||
| <ei, ey> | either /ˈaɪðə/ , eye /aɪ/ | ||||||||||
| <igh, eigh> | bright /braɪt/ , height /haɪt/ | ||||||||||
| <uy> | buy /baɪ/ , guy /ɡaɪ/ | ||||||||||
| In some Latin plurals in <-i> | alumni /əˈlʌmnaɪ/ , termini /ˈtɜ:mɪnaɪ/, radii /ˈreɪdɪaɪ/ | ||||||||||
| Rare cases: |
|
| I /aɪ/ |
| eyes /aɪz/ |
| ice /aɪs/ |
| tight /taɪt/ |
| height /haɪt/ |
| island /ˈaɪlənd/ |
| Myra /ˈmaɪərə/ |
| typewriter /ˈtaɪpraɪtə/ |
|
Violet likes rock-climbing, horse-riding,
and ice-skating.
/ˈvaɪələt ˈlaɪks ˈrɒkˌklaɪmɪŋ ˈhɔ:sˌraɪdɪŋ ənd ˈaɪsˌskeɪtɪŋ/ |
|
Mike is going bicycle-riding
with Miles next Friday.
/ˈmaɪk s ˈɡəʊɪŋ ˈbaɪsɪkl̩ ˈraɪdɪŋ wɪð ˈmaɪlz ˈnekst ˈfraɪdi/ |
|
I'll ask the librarian if there are intriguing sci-fi and psycho
movies on DVD.
/ aɪl ˈɑ:sk ðə laɪˈbreərɪən ɪf ðər ər ɪnˈtri:ɡɪŋ ˈsaɪˌfaɪ ənd ˈsaɪkəʊ ˈmu:vɪz ɒn ˌdiviˈdi: |
|
Birdie birdie in the sky laid a turdie in my eye.
/ˈbɜ:di ˈbɜ:di ɪn ðə ˈskaɪ ˈleɪd ə ˈtɜ:di ɪn maɪ ˈaɪ/ |
|
If cows could fly, I´d have cow pie in my eye.
/ɪf ˈkaʊz kəd ˈflaɪ aɪd ˈhæv ə ˈkaʊ ˈpaɪ ɪn maɪ ˈaɪ/ |
The tongue begins back and low in the oral chamber and moves upwards towards a centralised close front position with a very noticeable closing movement of the lower jaw. The lips change from a neutral to a spread position. The soft palate is raised (unless followed by a nasal).
Falling diphthong
The first sound in this diphthong is a vowel and the second element is a semivowel. The articulators move from an open position to a close position. The vocal folds vibrate during the production of this sound.
| aire |
| vaina |
| hay |
|
|
The articulators move from an open position to a close position. The vocal folds vibrate during the production of this sound.