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All Finnish diphthongs are falling. Notably, Finnish has true opening diphthongs (e.g. /uo/), which are not very common crosslinguistically compared to centering diphthongs (e.g. /uə/ in English). Vowel combinations across syllables may in practice be pronounced as diphthongs, when an intervening consonant has elided, as in näön [næøn] instead of [næ.øn] for the genitive of näkö ('sight').

closing

• [ɑi̯] as in laiva (ship)
• [ei̯] as in keinu (swing)
• [oi̯] as in poika (boy)
• [æi̯] as in äiti (mother)
• [øi̯] as in öisin (at nights)
• [ɑu̯] as in lauha (mild)
• [eu̯] as in leuto (mild)
• [ou̯] as in koulu (school)
• [ey̯] as in leyhyä (to waft)
• [æy̯] as in täysi (full)
• [øy̯] as in löytää (to find)

close

• [ui̯] as in uida (to swim)
• [yi̯] as in lyijy (lead)
• [iu̯] as in viulu (violin)
• [iy̯] as in siistiytyä (to smarten up)

o

All Finnish diphthongs are falling. Notably, Finnish has true opening diphthongs (e.g. /uo/), which are not very common crosslinguistically compared to centering diphthongs (e.g. /uə/ in English). Vowel combinations across syllables may in practice be pronounced as diphthongs, when an intervening consonant has elided, as in näön [næøn] instead of [næ.øn] for the genitive of näkö ('sight').

closing

• [ɑi̯] as in laiva (ship)
• [ei̯] as in keinu (swing)
• [oi̯] as in poika (boy)
• Northern Sami varies considerably from one dialect to another. The Western Finnmark dialects distinguish four different qualities of opening diphthongs:
  • /eæ/ as in leat "to be"
  • /ie/ as in giella "language"
  • /oa/ as in boahtit "to come"
  • /uo/ as in vuodjat "to swim"

  In terms of quantity, Northern Sami shows a three-way contrast between long, short and finally stressed diphthongs. The last are distinguished from long and short diphthongs by a markedly long and stressed second component. Diphthong quantity is not indicated in spelling.

  Semitic languages

  Maltese

  Maltese has seven falling diphthongs, though they may be considered VC sequences phonemically.^[46]

  • [ɛɪ̯] ej or għi
  • [ɐɪ̯] aj or għi
  • [ɔɪ̯] oj
  • [ɪʊ̯] iw
  • [ɛʊ̯] ew
  • [ɐʊ̯] aw or għu
  • [ɔʊ̯] ow or għu

  Sino-Tibetan languages

  Maltese

  Cantonese has eleven diphthongs.

  • aai: [aːi̯], as in gaai1 (街, street)
  • aau: [aːu̯], as in baau3 (爆, explode)
  • ai: [ɐi̯], as in gai1 (雞, chicken)
  • au: [ɐu̯], as in au1 (勾, hook)
  • ei

    Cantonese has eleven diphthongs.

    • aai: [aːi̯], as in gaai1 (街, street)
    • aau: [aːu̯], as in baau3 (爆, explode)
    • ai: [ɐi̯], as in gai1 (雞, chicken)
    • au: [ɐu̯], as in au1 (勾, hook)
    • ei: [ei̯], as in gei1 (機, machine)
    • eu: [ɛːu̯], as in deu6 (掉, throw)In addition to vowel nuclei following or preceding /j/ and /w/, Thai has three diphthongs which exist as long-short pairs:^[47]
      • เอีย ia [iːa̯, ia̯]
      • เอือ üa [ɯːa̯, ɯa̯]
      • อัว ua [uːa̯, ua̯]

      Mon-Khmer languages

      Vietnamese

      In addition to vowel nuclei following or preceding /j/ and /w/, Vietnamese has three diphthongs:

      • [iə̯] ia~iê
      • [ɨə̯] ưa~ươ
      • [uə̯] ua~uô

      Khmer

      Khmer language has rich vocalics with an extra distinction of long and short register to the vowels and diphthongs.

      • [iə̯]
      • [ei̯]
      • <

        In addition to vowel nuclei following or preceding /j/ and /w/, Vietnamese has three diphthongs:

        • [iə̯] ia~iê
        • [ɨə̯] ưa~ươ
        • [uə̯] ua~uô

        Khmer

        Khmer language has rich vocalics with an extra distinction of long and short register to the vowels and diphthongs.

        • [iə̯]
        • Khmer language has rich vocalics with an extra distinction of long and short register to the vowels and diphthongs.
          • [iə̯]
          • [ei̯]
          • [ɐe̯]
          • [ɨə̯]
          • [əɨ̯]
          • [ɐə̯]
          • Zulu has only monophthongs. Y and w are semi-vowels:
            • [ja] as in [ŋijaɠuˈɓɛːɠa] ngiyakubeka (I am placing it)
            • [wa] as in [ŋiːwa] ngiwa (I fall/I am falling)

            Austronesian languages

            Indonesian

            Indonesian language, has four native diphthong and may be located at the beginning, middle and end of the words.^[48] they are:

            • /ai̯/: balairung ('hall') , kedai ('shop'), pandai ('clever')
            • /au̯/: autodidak ('autodidact'), taufik (Indonesian first name),kerbau ('buffalo'), limau ('lemon')
            • /oi̯/ (or Indonesian language, has four native diphthong and may be located at the beginning, middle and end of the words.^[48] they are:
              • /ai̯/: balairung ('hall') , kedai ('shop'), pandai ('clever')
              • /au̯/: autodidak ('autodidact'), taufik (Indonesian first name),kerbau ('buffalo'), limau ('lemon')
              • /oi̯/ (or /ʊi̯/ in Indonesian): boikot ('boycott') , amboi (an expression when amazed)
              • /ei̯/: eigendom ('property') , survei ('survey')

              See also