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How Many Diphthongs Are There in English Shorthand?

Published in Linguistics 1 min read

There are no diphthongs in English shorthand.

Shorthand is a system of writing using abbreviated symbols and strokes to represent words and sounds. Diphthongs, on the other hand, are vowel sounds made by gliding from one vowel sound to another.

While English shorthand systems may use symbols to represent individual vowel sounds, they do not use specific symbols to represent diphthongs. Instead, shorthand writers use a combination of symbols and strokes to represent the entire word or phrase, including any diphthong sounds.

For example, the word "boy" might be represented by a single stroke or symbol in shorthand, rather than separate symbols for the vowel sounds "o" and "i."

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