monophthongal

9.9

A vowel sound that stays the same when you say it

adjective
/ˌmɒnəˈfθɔŋɡəl/

Specialized

: monoftongal

Linguists study how monophthongal vowels differ from diphthongs in various languages.

Examples

Linguists study how monophthongal vowels differ from diphthongs in various languages.
In English, the vowel in 'cat' is a monophthongal sound.
The teacher explained that 'see' contains a monophthongal vowel, not a diphthong.
A monophthongal vowel is easy to identify.
The sound in 'cat' is monophthongal.
In English, the vowel in 'cat' is a monophthongal sound.
The teacher explained that 'see' contains a monophthongal vowel, not a diphthong.

Antonyms

diphthong

Specialized

3 8.4

A vowel sound that moves from one vowel to another in the same syllable

Surface Forms

monophthongal positive

Morphology

monophthongal = monophthong (semi-transparent) = mono + phthong + al

The adjective is regularly formed from the technical noun 'monophthong' with '-al', but the base term itself is specialized and not very accessible to general learners.

Etymology

Monophthongal comes from mono- 'one' and phthong 'sound', the same root you find in phone and phonics which are about 'sound'. So a monophthongal vowel is a single, unchanging vowel sound, not a diphthong with two sounds.