Danish Diphthongs

Danish has many diphthongs. English also has many diphthongs, but Danish has diphthongs that do not occur in English. Let us look at them.

Danish has four diphthongs that are not used in English. In these four Danish diphthongs, the second component of the diphthong is the high front rounded back vowel that occurs in the English word now. Four Danish words with diphthongs that do not occur in English are døv (deaf), liv (life), ræv (fox) and syv (seven).

In the word døv, the first component of the diphthong is a mid front unrounded vowel. This vowel does not occur in English, but it does in languages such as French and German. The word døv has the same meaning and spelling in Norwegian, but in Norwegian it does not have a diphthong.

The word liv has the same meaning and spelling in Norwegian and Swedish, but in Norwegian and Swedish it does not have a diphthong. The first component is a high front unrounded vowel. The first and second components of the diphthong share the same tongue height.

In the word ræv, the first component of the diphthong is a mid front unrounded vowel. The Norwegian equivalent is rev and does not have a diphthong. The letter æ was once used in English.

The word syv is also used in Norwegian, but in Norwegian it does not have a diphthong. The first component is a high front rounded vowel. This vowel does not occur in English, but it occurs in languages such as French and German.

Danish and English both have a large number of diphthongs. However, a number of Danish diphthongs do not occur in English. In fact, Danish has four diphthongs that do not occur in other Germanic languages.