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A diphone is a pair of adjacent phonetic sounds used to evaluate language. It differs from a diphthong, which is a combined sound with multiple vowels. Linguists use diphones to document language changes and examine phonetic subsets. Diphones are often used in algorithms for natural language processing. By examining all possible diphones in a language, linguists can learn more about it. English diphones are divided into categories such as voiced and voiceless, bilabial, alveolar, plosive, fricative, and sibilant.
A diphone is a pair of phonetic sounds adjacent to each other in a verbal sequence. Linguists use the diphone as a tool to evaluate language and its uses. The diphone is a small part of a larger set of tools for examining and classifying the characteristics of a given language.
An important aspect of the diphone is its distinction from a similar linguistic element called a diphthong. A diphthong is a combined sound that contains two or more vowel components, where a diphone is two separate sounds, including vowels or consonants, that are placed next to each other. Another diphone-like element is the triphone. Triphons are made up of three phonetic sounds. Both diphones and triphones are often used in algorithms for natural language processing, where technology tries to receive or communicate sound based on the technical use of these sound elements in speech.
By correctly identifying diphones, linguists and other experts can achieve many different goals. One is to document any changes to the language in terms of dialect or popular usage. Another would be to examine the exact use of phonetic subsets versus others, for example, in comparing preferred sounds in different languages.
Some scientists and others approach the use of diphones in a highly technical way. This involves examining all possible theoretical permutations for diphones in a language. In a technical evaluation, the possibilities for diphones would be exponential, since any phoneme, or phonetic element, can be combined with another. The important thing to note about this is that almost all languages have restrictions on which phonemes are pronounced consecutively, so that in reality the maximum number of diphones used is less than the theoretical number.
By looking at all the diphones in a particular language, linguists can learn much more about that particular language. For example, in English, diphones are divided into several main categories. One category is voiced versus voiceless, where some phonetics have a voiced sound, such as “b” and some do not, such as “p.”
Aside from voiced versus voiceless phonetics, diphones can also include bilabial phonetics, spoken with both lips, alveolar phonetics, where the tongue is close to the palate, and many other phonetic types. Additionally, consonants often feature plosive phonetics, a specific type of oral stop, as well as fricatives and sibilants, which rely on forcing air through the throat.
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