verb
- converted a diphthong (a sound made by combining two vowels) into a monophthong (a single vowel sound)
Usage: linguistics; past tense and past participle of monophthongize
Examples
- The vowel sound in 'bite' has monophthongized in some regional dialects.
- Linguists observed that the diphthong /aɪ/ monophthongized over several generations.
- In certain accents, the traditional diphthong was monophthongized into a single vowel.
- The historical sound change monophthongized several Middle English diphthongs.