Practice question · Numerical answer
How many monophthongs does the standard analysis of Received Pronunciation recognise?
Hints
- The vowel total is 20, of which 8 are diphthongs.
- Twelve.
Show the answer
12
Why
12 monophthongs, plus 8 diphthongs, giving the 20 vowels of the 44-phoneme inventory. General American is usually given fewer, principally because it lacks the centring diphthongs and often merges cot with caught.
Practise English Vowels I: the Quadrilateral
The app has 3 more questions on this lesson, and keeps your place in the course. Languages I is free to start.
More questions on English Vowels I: the Quadrilateral
- Why are vowels described by tongue position rather than by place of articulation?
- Phonetic vowel length depends on both lexical vowel category and the following consonant. What follows from…
- Daniel Jones's cardinal vowels are the vowels of Received Pronunciation.
- Sort each accent feature by whether it is a MERGER or a SPLIT.
- Which are true of vowel length in English?
- Match each dimension of vowel description to what it specifies.
- Complete the description of the vowel space.
- Arrange these vowels from the highest tongue position to the lowest.
- The consonant inventories of English accents differ far less than their vowel inventories.