Falling, wide, front closing diphthong + /ə/.
In this phonemic combination in which the diphthong /aɪ/ is followed by /ə/, as in e.g. fire, the tongue glides from a position just bebind and above front open, the lips being nuetral, towards a centralized front position just above half close, the lips becoming gradually slightly spread; but before reaching the half close height, the tongue then glides to a central position just below half open, the lips returning to a neutral position at the end of the glide (/aɪə/). The movement of the tongue is therefore extensive. There is a tendency in rapid General and Refined RP to omit the second element /ɪ/, especially when the /ə/ is not felt as a separable morpheme (smoothing) thereby reducing the glide usually to just two elements, the diphthong /aə/, or to one long monophthong /aː/ particularly in Refined RP. Thus, tyre may sound the same as tower.
| <ire, yre> | tired /ˈtaɪəd/, tyre /ˈtaɪə/, lyre /ˈlaɪə/ | ||||
| <ier> | flier /ˈflaɪə/, higher /ˈhaɪə/ | ||||
| <ia> | via /ˈvaɪə/ | ||||
| Rare cases: |
|
| shire /ˈʃaɪə/ |
| flier /ˈflaɪə/ |
| wire /ˈwaɪə/ |
| buyer /ˈbaɪə/ |
| iron /ˈaɪən/ |
| liar /ˈlaɪə/ |
| science /ˈsaɪəns/ |
| psychiatrist /saɪˈkaɪətrɪst/ |
|
The clients found some iron wire in this tyre.
/ðə ˈklaɪənts ˈfaʊnd səm ˈaɪən ˈwaɪər ɪn ðɪs ˈtaɪə/ |
|
In Ireland some buyers hired a car to a liar without finding out if the price was higher or lower.
/ɪn ˈaɪələnd səm ˈbaɪəz ˈhaɪəd ə ˈkɑː tu ə ˈlaɪə wɪðˈaʊt ˈfaɪndɪŋ aʊt ɪf ðə ˈpraɪs wəz ˈhaɪər ɔː ˈlaʊə/ |
The tongue moves upwards from above a centralised open front position in the direction of a centralised half-close position and then it moves downwards towards an open variety of /ə/. The lips change from neutral to slightly spread and then back to neutral. The soft palate is raised (unless followed by a nasal).