DIPHONES
 

A diphone is two consecutive vowels spoken as two syllables. They are represented by a sharp arrowhead sign, pointing either down to bottom left, or up to top right:
 

Dot plus any vowel, Dash plus any vowel

Mnemonic: Dot Down, Dash Up

These two signs never change their angle. They replace the sign for the first of the pair of vowels, occupying its same position.

(A) Dot vowel plus any other:

Dot first place:

baa baa-ing

Dot second place:

payer payable player mayor saying naysayer

weighing delaying layer surveyor chaotic

Dot third place:

ideal theory earlier heavier

seeing carrying agreeable create serious

previous obvious various experience area

real really realise material serial

audio video medium museum million skiing

(B) Dash vowel plus any other:

Dash first place:

drawer drawings withdrawal sawing
 

cawing clawing jawing gnawing strawy

Dash second place:

lower follower grower borrower

knowing glowing following yellowing

snowy blowy showy cooperate coordinate

Dash third place:

jewel cruel fluid fluent fluency

truer truest chewy brewery gluing shoeing canoeing

(C) "-ion" The diphone signs are are also used for these types of endings, to represent the brief "y" sound before the vowel:
 

suggestion bastion exhaustion question* digestion

* Optional contraction

onion bunion behaviour spaniel Spaniard

Note: lawyer sawyer lanyard*

* The halved Yay is an alternative contracted way to write the suffix "yard" (Lesson 49 Suffixes)

(D) Small Shun Hook - These place the diphone against the Small Shun Hook curl. (The only other vowel sign to do this against this particular hook is the third place dot e.g. "position"):

pronunciation denunciation

Distinguishing outlines: annunciation enunciation (enunciate enunciated)

(E) Intervening - A few words have a diphone as an intervening vowel sign (Lesson 34). The sign is written with either the first or second part through the stroke, as convenient:

healthier wealthier clothier junior juniority

loftier parochial veniality (venial)

These two words use full stroke S for clarity, to show there are two syllables, and that they are not plurals:
 

dais chaos

(F)

In the following, stroke Way is retained as they are derivatives:

weigh weighing weigher Compare: wear

woo wooing wooer

(G) Diphone Sign Not Used

The diphone sign is not used where there is a Dot Ing, as the dot is deemed to include the I sound:

pawing paying praying spraying playing splaying

tying trying toeing plateauing teeing partying

guaranteeing staying stowing chewing fraying freeing

Not used for short forms and contractions, as they are not vocalised, so only the dot is added to the stroke Ing:
 

be being go going do doing

The short forms cover several words that have no consonant stroke (I, awe, oh/owe) but a word or utterance consisting only of vowel(s) can be shown using the "I-beam" placeholder stroke, with the vowel signs placed in their respective positions either side:

Io, ee!, ee-oh!, ooh-ah!

SUMMARY

• Diphones are two sounds spoken as two syllables

• Down/Left arrow replaces dot vowel plus any other vowel

• Up/Right arrow replaces dash vowel plus any other vowel

• Not used with Dot Ing, or derivatives of Short Forms/Contractions

EXTRA VOCABULARY

Dot 2nd place

braying betrayal bayonet pureeing

Dot 3rd place

comedian Canadian Indian guardian historian

marrying burying/berrying ferrying studying

agreeing fleeing bullion billion trillion

ingestion champion Olympian reality realisation

re-enter reinvest reinforce readmit

disagreeable reappear aerial saviour righteous

billiards geography geology geometry senior

alleviate abbreviate abbreviation deviate deviation

associate association initiate initiation radiation

negotiate negotiation ingratiate ingratiation

seriously furious miscellaneous insidious

mysterious courteous spurious glorious

victorious tedious envious devious

nauseous gaseous amiable meander

premium oriental calcium menial

ceremonial merrier freer collier

hairier hoarier harrier
 

ria/rhea* Mia Bohemia tiara     *ria=inlet, rhea=bird

radiator mediator cheerio ratio theatre theatrical*

*Special outline

polio folio portfolio piano oratorio

Cleo Borneo eon neon union

Dash 2nd place

Noah boa poem poet poetic phloem

sower blower mower lowest stoic

heroic coercion coincide cooperation

cooperative shadowy yellowy meadowy

Dash 3rd place

bluer bluish fluoride fluorescent

Louisa Lewis gruelling truant truancy

superfluous mellifluous screwy chop-suey

booing mooing shampooing

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