Monophthongize

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To reduce a diphthongal vowel sound into a single, unified vowel articulation
2. To alter a two-part vowel sound by merging it into one continuous vowel segment
3. To transform a compound vowel sound into a simple, undivided vowel quality

Etymology: Monophthongize is a straightforward formation: "monophthong" combined with the suffix "-ize", which turns a noun into a verb meaning to make or become something. A monophthong is a vowel whose sound stays steady through its pronunciation, such as the vowel in "pot", as opposed to a diphthong, which glides from one vowel quality to another, as in "boy" or "time". Built on the Greek roots "monos" (single) and "phthongos" (sound, voice), the noun gave linguists a precise name for the single-quality vowel. To monophthongize, then, is to turn a gliding diphthong into a steady single vowel. English offers a familiar case: the vowel of "ride" was once a diphthong that many speakers have since reduced to a simpler sound in certain dialects, and historical linguists use the verb to describe that kind of change across languages. The verb is most often applied to the sound history of a language rather than to individual speakers.

Synonyms: simplify, reduce

Antonyms: diphthongize