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General constraints on the combination of falling diphthongs and glides and centring diphthongs and schwa
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There are two more general constraints on vowel sequences, which are the topic of this section.

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There are two additional, general constraints on vowel sequences:

  • The vowel sequences underlying falling diphthongs cannot be followed by a glide. This means that the sequences /ajw/, /ɛjw/, /ɔwj/, and /ojw/ do not occur. The sequences /ajj/, /ɛjj/, /ɔww/, and /ojj/ are also out for violating the OCP.
  • The vowel sequences underlying centring diphthongs cannot be followed by schwa or a sequence of schwa + consonant. While there are words like trije /trɛjə/ three, Hijum /hɛjəm/ place name, touwel /tɔwəl/ rhizome; reed root and fjouwer /fjɔwər/ four, with a falling diphthong, there are none like snieër /sniəər/, heael /hɪəəl/, stoeëm /stuəəm/, and kloaer /kloəər/, with a centring diphthong. In the latter, the sequence of schwas would violate the OCP.

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