24/12/2025
This is quite misleading.
The sounds labeled long vowel sounds are called dipghthongs.
They are not long vowel sounds.
A diphthong is a combination of two pure vowels (also called monothongs) to function as a single sound.
Examples
/ei/ (combination of /e/ and /i/) as in play, maid, age, day, etc
/ai/ (combination of /a/ and /i/) as in eye, might, height, dye, write, etc.
/eu/ (combination of /e/ and /u/) as in low, toe, grow, no, etc.
There are a total of eight diphthongs in English language sound system.
And on the other hand, long vowels are pure vowels with two diacritic dots by the side. And breath tends to be held or prolonged when pronouncing it unlike the short vowel counterparts.
Examples
Short long
/i/ as in live /i:/ as in leave
/a/ as in pack /a:/ as in park
/u/ as in book /u:/ as in full
Just but a few.
We really need to do our homework well before dishing out what will further confuse our learners o.