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Question

Difficulty: MediumDiphthongs

Which of the following words contains the diphthong sound /ɪə/?

  1. beardAnswer
  2. B
    heard
  3. C
    dread
  4. D
    earth

Answer

beard
The word 'beard' is pronounced as /bɪəd/, featuring the diphthong /ɪə/. A diphthong involves a smooth auditory glide from one vowel quality to another within the same syllable.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the phonetic pronunciation of each given word.
The word 'beard' is transcribed as /bɪəd/, 'heard' as /hɜːd/, 'dread' as /dred/, and 'earth' as /ɜːθ/.
Identifying the exact phonetic transcription isolates the vowel sound produced in each word.
2
Identify which vowel sound is a diphthong.
The vowel sound in 'beard' is /ɪə/, which is a centring diphthong gliding from /ɪ/ to /ə/.
The other three words contain pure monophthongs (/ɜː/ and /e/) despite sharing the 'ea' spelling pattern.

Key Concept

Diphthong Identification (/ɪə/ vs Monophthongs)
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Topics

Diphthongs

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