Falling, narrow, front closing diphthong + /ə/.
In this phonemic combination in which the diphthong /eɪ/ is followed by /ə/, as in e.g. layer, the diphthongal glide is abruptly interrupted, and then the tongue moves with an audible glide to a relatively open variety of /ə/. As this sound combination is usually regarded as spreading over two syllables, it would be wrong to regard it as a triphthong. On the other hand, given that the middle segment /ɪ/is very weak, some speakers drop this sound thereby reducing the glide to just two elements, the diphthong /eə/, or to one element, the long monophthong /ɛː/. This phenomenon is technically known as levelling or smoothing. Thus, layer may sound the same as lair.
| <ayer> | player/ˈpleɪə/, Layer /ˈleɪə/ |
| player /ˈpleɪə/ |
| layer /ˈleɪə/ |
| prayer (person) /ˈpreɪə/ |
| stayer /ˈsteɪə/ |
| rayon /ˈreɪən/ |
|
The prayer and the player agreed that the Bible has multiple layers of meaning.
/ ðə ˈpreɪə ənd ðə ˈpleɪər əˈɡriːd ðət ðə ˈbaɪbl̩ həz ˈmʌltɪpl̩ ˈleɪəz əv ˈmiːnɪŋ/ |
|
The payer in rayon is really a stayer but not a betrayer.
/ðə ˈpeɪər ɪn ˈreɪən z ˈrɪəli ə ˈsteɪə bət nɒt ə bɪˈtreɪə/ |
The tongue moves upwards from below half-close front in the direction of a centralised haf-close position and then it moves downwards towards an open variety of /ə/. The lips change from slightly spread to neutral. The soft palate is raised (unless followed by a nasal).