Monophthong
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A monophtong (pronounced "Mono-F-thong") is simply a vovel. The word monophthong is derived from the old Greek language. Mono means one or single, and the -phthong means sound or tone, from the basic word phthalein, which means to speak, create sound with the voice. The word monopthong emphazises that a vovel is spoken with exactly one tone and one mouth position. For example, when you say "teeth", then while you are creating the sound of the "ee", nothing changes for the entire duration of that sound.
A monophthong can be a lexeme of a language and as such it can as well be a syllable. There is no shorter syllable than a single monophthong.
see also: Diphthong
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