Vowel the vowel sounds of "flower", , form a triphthong or disyllable, depending on dialect. In phonology, diphthongs and triphthongs are distinguished from sequences of monophthongs by whether the vowel sound may be analyzed into different phonemes or not. For example, the vowel sounds in a two-syllable pronunciation of the word "flower" () phonetically form a disyllabic triphthong, but are phonologically a sequence of a diphthong (represented by the letters ) and a monophthong (represented by the letters ). Some linguists use the terms "diphthong" and "triphthong" only in this phonemic sense. The name "vowel" is often used for the symbols
Lojban permitted variants intended to cover dissimilitude in pronunciation by speakers of different linguistic backgrounds. Stress normally falls on the penultimate syllable. There are 16 diphthongs (and no triphthongs). A distinction between diphthongs and monophthongs can be written by inserting a comma in the Latin alphabet. Vowel hiatus is also prevented by inserting an apostrophe, which usually indicates , though there are other valid realizations. For those who have trouble pronouncing certain consonant clusters, there is the option of adding vowels between them (epenthesis), as long as they differ sufficiently from the phonological vowels and are pronounced as short as possible.