Mandarin Diphthongs

[Hero Doug]

On the Wikipedia page for Diphthongs they list some as rising, and some as falling.

I'd like to know if anyone can clarify exactly how they rise or fall?

家 was given as an example of a rising diphthong for ia; so I'm wondering if native speakers kind of raise their intonation at the end of this word slightly.

If you listen to the recording on this site it does kind of seem like it.

Anyways I'm just looking for some opinions on the interpretation of the rising and falling aspect of diphthongs, thanks.

[Daan]

What they mean by rising and falling dipthongs is explained in the first part of that Wikipedia article:

Falling (or descending) diphthongs start with a vowel quality of higher prominence (higher pitch or louder) and end in a semivowel with less prominence, like [aɪ̯] in eye, while rising (or ascending) diphthongs begin with a less prominent semivowel and end with a more prominent full vowel, like [ɪ̯a] in yard.

Is that what you were looking for?

[Hero Doug]

A bit embarrassing; but I didn't read that part. It does seem to clear things up quite clearly, thanks.