Digraph (orthography)

Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:More citations needed Template:IPA notice [[File:Lldigraph.png|thumb|In Welsh, the [[Ll|digraph Template:Vr]] fused for a time into a ligature.]]

A digraph (Template:Etymology) or digram is a pair of characters used in the orthography of a language to write either a single phoneme (distinct sound), or a sequence of phonemes that does not correspond to the normal values of the two characters combined.

Some digraphs represent phonemes that cannot be represented with a single character in the writing system of a language, like Template:Vr in Spanish chico and ocho. Other digraphs represent phonemes that can also be represented by single characters. A digraph that shares its pronunciation with a single character may be a relic from an earlier period of the language when the digraph had a different pronunciation, or may represent a distinction that is made only in certain dialects, like the English Template:Vr. Some such digraphs are used for purely etymological reasons, like Template:Vr in French.

In some orthographies, a digraph (or a trigraph) is considered to constitute a letter, which means that it has its own place in the alphabet and cannot be separated into its constituent graphemes for purposes of sorting, abbreviating, or hyphenating words. Digraphs are used in some romanization schemes, e.g. Template:Vr as a romanisation of Russian Template:Vr.

The capitalisation of digraphs can vary, e.g. Template:Vr in Polish is capitalized Template:Vr and Template:Vr in Norwegian is capitalized Template:Vr, while Template:Vr in Dutch is capitalized Template:Vr and word initial Template:Vr in Irish is capitalized Template:Vr.

Digraphs may also develop into ligatures, but the two concepts are distinct; a digraph's essential feature is its sound, while a ligature is visual, graphically fusing two characters into one, e.g. when Template:Vr and Template:Vr become Template:Vr, e.g. as in French Template:Lang "heart".

Homogeneous digraphTemplate:Anchor

Digraphs may consist of two different characters (heterogeneous digraphs) or two instances of the same character (homogeneous digraphs). In the latter case, they are generally called double (or doubled) letters.

Doubled vowel letters are commonly used to indicate a long vowel sound. This is the case in Finnish and Estonian, for instance, where Template:Vr represents a longer version of the vowel denoted by Template:Vr, Template:Vr represents a longer version of the vowel denoted by Template:Vr, and so on. In Middle English, the sequences Template:Vr and Template:Vr were used in a similar way, to represent lengthened "e" and "o" sounds respectively; both spellings have been retained in modern English orthography, but the Great Vowel Shift and other historical sound changes mean that the modern pronunciations are quite different from the original ones.

Doubled consonant letters can also be used to indicate a long or geminated consonant sound. In Italian, for example, consonants written double are pronounced longer than single ones. This was the original use of doubled consonant letters in Old English, but during the Middle English and Early Modern English period, phonemic consonant length was lost and a spelling convention developed in which a doubled consonant serves to indicate that a preceding vowel is to be pronounced short. In modern English, for example, the Template:Vr of tapping differentiates the first vowel sound from that of taping. In rare cases, doubled consonant letters represent a true geminate consonant in modern English; this may occur when two instances of the same consonant come from different morphemes, for example Template:Vr in unnatural (un+natural) or Template:Vr in cattail (cat+tail).

In some cases, the sound represented by a doubled consonant letter is distinguished in some other way than length from the sound of the corresponding single consonant letter:

In Welsh and Greenlandic, Template:Vr stands for a voiceless lateral consonant, while in Spanish and Catalan it stands for a palatal consonant.
In several languages of western Europe, including English, French, Portuguese and Catalan, the digraph Template:Angbr is used between vowels to represent the voiceless sibilant Template:IPA, since an Template:Angbr alone between vowels normally represents the voiced sibilant Template:IPA.
In Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan and Basque, [[rr (digraph)|Template:Vr]] is used between vowels for the alveolar trill Template:IPA, since an Template:Vr alone between vowels represents an alveolar flap Template:IPA (the two are different phonemes in those languages).
In Spanish, the digraph Template:Vr formerly indicated Template:IPA (a palatal nasal); it developed into the letter ñ.
In Basque, double consonant letters generally mark palatalized versions of the single consonant letter, as in [[dd (digraph)|Template:Vr]], Template:Vr, [[tt (digraph)|Template:Vr]]. However, Template:Vr is a trill that contrasts with the single-letter flap, as in Spanish, and the palatal version of Template:Vr is written Template:Vr.

In several European writing systems, including the English one, the doubling of the letter Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr is represented as the heterogeneous digraph Template:Angbr instead of Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr respectively. In native German words, the doubling of Template:Angbr, which corresponds to Template:IPA, is replaced by the digraph Template:Angbr.

Pan-dialectical digraphs

Some languages have a unified orthography with digraphs that represent distinct pronunciations in different dialects (diaphonemes). For example, in Breton there is a digraph Template:Angbr that represents Template:IPA in most dialects, but Template:IPA in Vannetais. Similarly, the Saintongeais dialect of French has a digraph Template:Angbr that represents Template:IPA in words that correspond to Template:IPA in standard French. Similarly, Catalan has a digraph Template:Angbr that represents Template:IPA in Eastern Catalan, but Template:IPA or Template:IPA in Western Catalan–Valencian.

Split digraphs

Template:Anchor The pair of letters making up a phoneme are not always adjacent. This is the case with English silent e. For example, the sequence a_e has the sound Template:IPA in English cake. This is the result of three historical sound changes: cake was originally Template:IPA, the open syllable Template:IPA came to be pronounced with a long vowel, and later the final schwa dropped off, leaving Template:IPA. Later still, the vowel Template:IPA became Template:IPA. There are six such digraphs in English, Template:Angle bracket.<ref>Brooks (2015) Dictionary of the British English Spelling System, p. 460 ff</ref>

However, alphabets may also be designed with discontinuous digraphs. In the Tatar Cyrillic alphabet, for example, the letter ю is used to write both Template:IPA and Template:IPA. Usually the difference is evident from the rest of the word, but when it is not, the sequence ю...ь is used for Template:IPA, as in юнь Template:IPA 'cheap'.

The Indic alphabets are distinctive for their discontinuous vowels, such as Thai เ...อ Template:IPA in เกอ Template:IPA. Technically, however, they may be considered diacritics, not full letters; whether they are digraphs is thus a matter of definition.

Ambiguous letter sequences

Template:Wiktionary Some letter pairs are not digraphs but might be interpreted as digraphs because of compounding: e.g. hogshead and cooperate (the latter case of vowel hiatus is also called diaeresis). In English, they are often unmarked and must therefore be memorized, or more likely deduced, as exceptions. Some authors, however, indicate it either by breaking up the digraph with a hyphen, as in hogs-head, co-operate, or, in case of a vowel hiatus, with a diaeresis diacritic mark, as in coöperate (this use of two dots in English is now archaic but continues to be used extensively in some other languages). When it occurs in names such as Clapham, Townshend, and Hartshorne, it is never marked in any way. Positional alternative glyphs may help to disambiguate in certain cases: when round Template:Angbr was used as a final variant of long Template:Angbr, and the English digraph for Template:IPA would always be Template:Angbr.

Similar ambiguity also occurs frequently in German, where it is also unmarked and left to the reader to deduce.

In Romansh, a hyphen is used to distinguish Template:Angbr from Template:Angbr.

In Dutch, a diaresis is frequently used to parse Template:Angbr.

In romanization of Japanese, the constituent sounds (morae) are usually indicated by digraphs, but some are indicated by a single letter, and some with a trigraph. The case of ambiguity is the syllabic ん (or ン) , which is written as n (or sometimes m), except before vowels or y where it is followed by an apostrophe as n’. For example, the given name じゅんいちろう is romanized as Jun’ichirō, so that it is parsed as "Ju-n-i-chi-rou", rather than as "Ju-ni-chi-rou". A similar use of the apostrophe is seen in pinyin where 嫦娥 is written Chang'e because the g belongs to the final (-ang) of the first syllable, not to the initial of the second syllable. Without the apostrophe, Change would be understood as the syllable chan (final -an) followed by the syllable ge (initial g-).

In alphabetization

In some languages, certain digraphs and trigraphs are counted as distinct letters in themselves, and assigned to a specific place in the alphabet, separate from that of the sequence of characters that composes them, for purposes of orthography and collation:

In the Gaj's Latin alphabet used to write Serbo-Croatian, the digraphs Template:Vr, Template:Vr and Template:Vr, which correspond to the single Cyrillic letters Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, are treated as distinct letters.
In the Czech and Slovak alphabet, Template:Vr is treated as a distinct letter, coming after Template:Vr in the alphabet. Also, in the Slovak alphabet the relatively rare digraphs Template:Vr and Template:Vr are treated as distinct letters.
In the Danish and Norwegian alphabet, the former digraph Template:Vr, where it appears in older names, is sorted as if it were the letter Template:Vr, which replaced it.
In the Norwegian alphabet, there are several digraphs and letter combinations representing an isolated sound.
In the Dutch alphabet, the digraph Template:Vr is sometimes written as a ligature and may be sorted with Template:Vr (in the Netherlands, though not usually in Belgium); however, regardless of where it is used, when a Dutch word starting with Template:Vr is capitalized, the entire digraph is capitalized (IJmeer, IJmuiden). Other Dutch digraphs are never treated as single letters.
In Hungarian, the digraphs Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, and the trigraph Template:Vr, have their own places in the alphabet (where e.g. Template:Vr comes right after Template:Vr)
In Spanish, the digraphs Template:Vr and Template:Vr were formerly treated as distinct letters, but are now split into their constituent letters.
In Welsh, the alphabet includes the digraphs Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr. However, Template:Vr, Template:Vr and Template:Vr, which represent mutated voiceless consonants, are not treated as distinct letters.
In the romanization of several Slavic countries that use the Cyrillic script, letters like ш, ж, and ю might be written as sh, zh and yu, however sometimes the result of the romanization might modify a letter to be a diacritical letter instead of a digraph.
In Maltese, two digraphs are used, Template:Vr which comes right after Template:Vr, and Template:Vr which comes right after Template:Vr.

Most other languages, including most of the Romance languages, treat digraphs as combinations of separate letters for alphabetization purposes.

Examples

Latin script

Template:Main

English

English has both homogeneous digraphs (doubled letters) and heterogeneous digraphs (digraphs consisting of two different letters). Those of the latter type include the following:

Template:Angbr normally represents Template:IPA (voiceless alveolar fricative - scene) or Template:IPA (voiceless postalveolar fricative - conscious) before Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr.
Template:Angbr can represent Template:IPA (velar nasal) as in thing.
Template:Angbr usually corresponds to Template:IPA (voiceless postalveolar affricate - church), to Template:IPA (voiceless velar plosive) when used as an etymological digraph in words of Greek origin (christ), less commonly to Template:IPA (voiceless postalveolar fricative) in words of French origin (champagne).
Template:Angbr corresponds to Template:IPA as in check.
Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA (voiced velar plosive) at the beginning of words (ghost), represents Template:IPA (voiceless labiodental fricative in enough) or is silent at the end of words (sigh).
Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA (voiceless labiodental fricative), as in siphon.
Template:Angbr represents English Template:IPA in words of Greek origin, such as rhythm.
Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA (voiceless postalveolar fricative), as in sheep.
Template:Angbr usually represents Template:IPA word-medially before a vowel, as in education.
Template:Angbr usually corresponds to Template:IPA (voiceless interdental fricative) in thin or Template:IPA (voiced interdental fricative) in then. See also [[Pronunciation of English th|Pronunciation of English Template:Angbr]].
Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA in some conservative dialects; Template:IPA in other dialects (while); and Template:IPA in a few words in which it is followed by Template:Angbr, such as who and whole. See also [[Phonological history of wh|Phonological history of Template:Angbr]].
Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA in words transliterated from Slavic languagesTemplate:Which, and in American dictionary pronunciation spelling.
Template:Angbr usually appears as Template:IPA before vowels, like in facial and artificial. Otherwise it is Template:IPA as in fancier and icier or Template:IPA as in acid and rancid.
Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA. Originally, it stood for a labialized sound, while Template:Angbr without Template:Angbr was non-labialized, but the distinction has been lost in most dialects, the two sounds merging into a single alveolar approximant, allophonically labialized at the start of syllables, as in red Template:IPA. See also rhotic consonant.
Template:Angbr usually represents Template:IPA; Template:Angbr is conventionally followed by Template:Angbr and a vowel letter as in quick, with some exceptions.

Digraphs may also be composed of vowels. Some letters Template:Angbr are preferred for the first position, others for the second Template:Angbr. The latter have allographs Template:Angbr in English orthography.

English vocalic digraphs
second letter → first letter ↓	Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr ¦ Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr ¦ Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr
Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr > Template:Angbr – Template:IPA	Template:Angbr – Template:IPA	Template:Angbr – Template:IPA	Template:Angbr – Template:IPA	Template:Angbr – Template:IPA
Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr > Template:Angbr – Template:IPA	Template:Angbr – Template:IPA	Template:Angbr – Template:IPA (in loanwords: Template:IPA )	(in loanwords and proper nouns: Template:Angbr – Template:IPA )	(in loanwords from Chinese: Template:Angbr – Template:IPA )
Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr – Template:IPA	Template:Angbr – Template:IPA	Template:Angbr – Template:IPA	Template:Angbr – Template:IPA
Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr – Template:IPA	Template:Angbr – Template:IPA
Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr – Template:IPA

Serbo-Croatian

Template:Angbr corresponds to Template:IPA, (palatal lateral approximant)
Template:Angbr corresponds to Template:IPA (palatal nasal)
Template:Angbr corresponds to Template:IPA (voiced postalveolar affricate)

Note that in the Cyrillic orthography, those sounds are represented by single letters (љ, њ, џ).

Czech and Slovak

Template:Angbr corresponds to Template:IPA (voiceless velar fricative), counted as a distinct letter
Template:Angbr corresponds to Template:IPA (voiced alveolar affricate), counted as a distinct letter in Slovak, relatively rare digraph
Template:Angbr corresponds to Template:IPA (voiced postalveolar affricate), counted as a distinct letter in Slovak, relatively rare digraph

Danish and Norwegian

The digraph Template:Angbr represented Template:IPA until 1917 in Norway and 1948 in Denmark, but is today spelt Template:Angbr. The digraph is still used in older names, but sorted as if it were the letter with the diacritic mark.

In Norwegian, several sounds can be represented only by a digraph or a combination of letters. They are the most common combinations, but extreme regional differences exists, especially those of the eastern dialects. A noteworthy difference is the aspiration of Template:Vr in eastern dialects, where it corresponds to Template:Vr and Template:Vr. Among many young people, especially in the western regions of Norway and in or around the major cities, the difference between Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink has been completely wiped away and are now pronounced the same.

Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA
Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA.
Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA.
Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA.
Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA (before i or y).
Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA as in ng in English thing.

French vocalic digraphs
	Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr
Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr – Template:IPA	Template:Angbr – Template:IPA
Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr – Template:IPA	Template:Angbr – Template:IPA
Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr – Template:IPA	Template:Angbr – Template:IPA

German

Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA (voiceless velar fricative) or Template:IPA (voiceless palatal fricative)
Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA (voiceless velar plosive)
Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr represent Template:IPA (open front unrounded vowel) followed by (near-close near-front unrounded vowel)
Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr represent Template:IPA (open-mid back rounded vowel) followed by (near-close near-front rounded vowel)

Hungarian

Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA (voiceless postalveolar affricate)
Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA (voiced postalveolar fricative)
Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA (voiced palatal plosive)
Template:Angbr originally represented Template:IPA (palatal lateral approximant), but in the modern language stands for Template:IPA (palatal approximant)
Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA (palatal nasal)
Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA (voiceless palatal plosive)
Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA (voiced postalveolar affricate)
Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA (voiceless alveolar fricative) (Template:Angbr is pronounced Template:IPA)
The Hungarian alphabet additionally contains also a trigraph, Template:Angbr Template:IPAslink.

Italian

Template:Angbr corresponds to Template:IPA, (voiceless postalveolar fricative) before -i and -e (but to Template:IPA before other letters)
Template:Angbr corresponds to Template:IPA (only before i, e)
Template:Angbr corresponds to Template:IPA (only before i, e)
Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA, palatal lateral approximant, before -i (with some exceptions)
Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA (palatal nasal)

Manx Gaelic

Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA, but Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA.

Polish

Template:Angbr corresponds to Template:IPA (voiceless velar fricative)
Template:Angbr corresponds to Template:IPA (voiceless retroflex affricate)
Template:Angbr corresponds to Template:IPA (voiced alveolar affricate)
Template:Angbr corresponds to Template:IPA (voiced alveolo-palatal affricate)
Template:Angbr corresponds to Template:IPA (voiced retroflex affricate)
Template:Angbr corresponds to Template:IPA (voiced retroflex fricative)
Template:Angbr corresponds to Template:IPA (voiceless retroflex fricative)

Portuguese

Template:Angbr corresponds to Template:IPA (voiceless postalveolar fricative)
Template:Angbr corresponds to Template:IPA (palatal lateral approximant)
Template:Angbr corresponds to Template:IPA (palatal nasal)
Template:Vr usually represents Template:IPA (voiceless velar stop)

Spanish

[[ll|Template:Vr]] is traditionally pronounced Template:IPA, but in dialects with yeísmo is pronounced Template:IPA
Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA (voiceless postalveolar affricate). Since 2010, neither is considered part of the alphabet. They used to be sorted as separate letters, but a reform in 1994 by the Spanish Royal Academy has allowed that they be split into their constituent letters for collation. The digraph Template:Angbr, pronounced as a distinct alveolar trill, was never officially considered to be a letter in the Spanish alphabet, and the same is true Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr (for Template:IPA and Template:IPA respectively before Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr).

Taiwanese Hokkien

Daighi tongiong pingim, a transcription system used for Taiwanese Hokkien, includes or that represents Template:IPA (mid central vowel) or Template:IPA (close-mid back rounded vowel), as well as other digraphs.

Welsh

Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA (velar nasal), the same sound as in English (but in some words it represents two separate letters, and is pronounced Template:IPA).
Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA (voiceless uvular fricative)
Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA (voiceless alveolar trill), pronounced roughly like the combination hr (but again in some words it represents two separate letters, and is pronounced Template:IPA).
Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA (voiceless interdental fricative)
Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA (voiced dental fricative), like the English Template:Angbr in then (but is pronounced as voiceless in many contexts).
Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA (voiceless labiodental fricative), like English Template:Angbr, since Welsh Template:Angbr is pronounced Template:IPA like an English Template:Angbr.
Template:Angbr also represents Template:IPA (voiceless labiodental fricative) but, in modern orthography, is used only for the aspirate mutation of words starting with Template:Angbr.
Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA (voiceless alveolar lateral fricative)

The digraphs listed above represent distinct phonemes and are treated as separate letters for collation purposes. On the other hand, the digraphs Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, and the trigraph Template:Angbr, which stand for voiceless consonants but occur only at the beginning of words as a result of the nasal mutation, are not treated as separate letters, and thus are not included in the alphabet.

Some words contain three or four consecutive Template:Angbrs or Template:Angbrs. In these cases hyphens are often used to indicate how the characters should be grouped into digraphs.

Yoruba

Template:Angbr is a letter that represents a plosive most accurately pronounced by trying to say Template:IPA and Template:IPA at the same time.

Cyrillic

Template:Main Modern Slavic languages written in the Cyrillic alphabet make little use of digraphs apart from Template:Angbr for Template:IPA, Template:Angbr for Template:IPA (in Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Bulgarian), and Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr for the uncommon Russian phoneme Template:IPA. In Russian, the sequences Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr do occur (mainly in loanwords) but are pronounced as combinations of an implosive (sometimes treated as an affricate) and a fricative; implosives are treated as allophones of the plosive Template:IPA and so those sequences are not considered to be digraphs. Cyrillic has few digraphs unless it is used to write non-Slavic languages, especially Caucasian languages.

Arabic script

Because vowels are not generally written, digraphs are rare in abjads like Arabic. For example, if sh were used for š, then the sequence sh could mean either ša or saha. However, digraphs are used for the aspirated and murmured consonants (those spelled with h-digraphs in Latin transcription) in languages of South Asia such as Urdu that are written in the Arabic script by a special form of the letter h, which is used only for aspiration digraphs, as can be seen with the following connecting (kh) and non-connecting (ḍh) consonants:

Urdu	connecting		non-connecting
digraph:	کھا	Template:IPA	ڈھا	Template:IPA
sequence:	کہا	Template:IPA	ڈہا	Template:IPA

Armenian

In the Armenian language, the digraph ու Template:Angle bracket transcribes Template:IPAslink, a convention that comes from Greek.

Georgian

The Georgian alphabet uses a few digraphs to write other languages. For example, in Svan, Template:IPA is written ჳე Template:Angle bracket, and Template:IPA as ჳი Template:Angle bracket.

Greek

Modern Greek has the following digraphs:

αι (ai) represents Template:IPA
ει (ei) represents Template:IPA
οι (oi) represents Template:IPA
ου (oy) represents Template:IPA
υι (yi) represents Template:IPA

They are called "diphthongs" in Greek; in classical times, most of them represented diphthongs, and the name has stuck.

γγ (gg) represents Template:IPA or Template:IPA
τσ (ts) represents the affricate Template:IPA
τζ (tz) represents the affricate Template:IPA
Initial γκ (gk) represents Template:IPA
Initial μπ (mp) represents Template:IPA
Initial ντ (nt) represents Template:IPA

Ancient Greek also had the "diphthongs" listed above although their pronunciation in ancient times is disputed. In addition, Ancient Greek also used the letter γ combined with a velar stop to produce the following digraphs:

γγ (gg) represents Template:IPA
γκ (gk) represents Template:IPA
γχ (gkh) represents Template:IPA

Tsakonian has a few additional digraphs:

ρζ (rz) Template:IPA (historically perhaps a fricative trill)
κχ (kkh) represents Template:IPA
τθ (tth) represents Template:IPA
πφ (pph) represents Template:IPA
σχ (skh) represents Template:IPA

In addition, palatal consonants are indicated with the vowel letter ι, which is, however, largely predictable. When Template:IPA and Template:IPA are not palatalized before ι, they are written νν and λλ.

In Bactrian, the digraphs ββ, δδ, and γγ were used for Template:IPA, Template:IPA, and Template:IPA respectively.

Hebrew

Indic

Most Indic scripts have compound vowel diacritics that cannot be predicted from their individual elements. That can be illustrated with Thai in which the diacritic เ, pronounced alone Template:IPA, modifies the pronunciation of other vowels:

single vowel sign:	กา	Template:IPA,	เก	Template:IPA,	กอ	Template:IPA
vowel sign plus เ:	เกา	Template:IPA,	แก	Template:IPA,	เกอ	Template:IPA

In addition, the combination รร is pronounced Template:IPA or Template:IPA, there are some words in which the combinations ทร and ศร stand for Template:IPA and the letter ห, as a prefix to a consonant, changes its tonic class to high, modifying the tone of the syllable.

Inuit

Inuktitut syllabics adds two digraphs to Cree:

rk for q: ᙯ qai, ᕿ qi, ᖁ qu, ᖃ qa, ᖅ q

and

ng for ŋ: ᖕ ng

The latter forms trigraphs and tetragraphs.

CJK Characters

Chinese

Several combinations of Chinese characters (Hanzi) formed from two or more different characters that are known as digraphs.

Japanese

Two kana may be combined into a C V syllable by subscripting the second; the convention cancels the vowel of the first. That is commonly done for CyV syllables called yōon, as in ひょ (ひ_よ) hyo Template:Angbr. They are not digraphs since they retain the normal sequential reading of the two glyphs. However, some obsolete sequences no longer retain that reading, as in くゎ kwa, ぐゎ gwa, and むゎ mwa, now pronounced ka, ga, ma. In addition, non-sequenceable digraphs are used for foreign loans that do not follow normal Japanese assibilation patterns, such as ティ ti, トゥ tu, チェ tye / che, スェ swe, ウィ wi, ツォ tso, ズィ zi. (See katakana and transcription into Japanese for complete tables.)

Long vowels are written by adding the kana for that vowel, in effect doubling it. However, long ō may be written either oo or ou, as in とうきょう toukyou Template:IPA 'Tōkyō'. For dialects that do not distinguish ē and ei, the latter spelling is used for a long e, as in へいせい heisei Template:IPA 'Heisei'. In loanwords, chōonpu, a line following the direction of the text, as in ビール bīru Template:IPA bīru 'beer'. With the exception of syllables starting with n, doubled consonant sounds are written by prefixing a smaller version of tsu (written っ and ッ in hiragana and katakana respectively), as in きって kitte 'stamp'. Consonants beginning with n use the kana n character (written ん or ン) as a prefix instead.

There are several conventions of Okinawan kana that involve subscript digraphs or ligatures. For instance, in the University of the Ryukyu's system, ウ is Template:IPA, ヲ is Template:IPA, but ヲゥ (ヲ_ウ) is Template:IPA.

Korean

As was the case in Greek, Korean has vowels descended from diphthongs that are still written with two letters. Those digraphs, ㅐ Template:IPA and ㅔ Template:IPA (also ㅒ Template:IPA, ㅖ Template:IPA), and in some dialects ㅚ Template:IPA and ㅟ Template:IPA, all end in historical ㅣ Template:IPA.

Hangul was designed with a digraph series to represent the "muddy" consonants: ㅃ Template:IPA, ㄸ Template:IPA, ㅉ Template:IPA, ㄲ Template:IPA, ㅆ Template:IPA, ㆅ Template:IPA; also ᅇ, with an uncertain value. Those values are now obsolete, but most of the doubled letters were resurrected in the 19th century to write consonants that did not exist when hangul was devised: ㅃ Template:IPA, ㄸ Template:IPA, ㅉ Template:IPA, ㄲ Template:IPA, ㅆ Template:IPA.

Ligatures and new letters

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Digraphs sometimes come to be written as a ligature. Over time, the ligatures may evolve into new letters or letters with diacritics. For example sz became ß in German, and "nn" became ñ in Spanish.

In Unicode

Generally, a digraph is simply represented using two characters in Unicode.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> However, for various reasons, Unicode sometimes provides a separate code point for a digraph, encoded as a single character.

The DZ and IJ digraphs and the Serbian/Croatian digraphs DŽ, LJ, and NJ have separate code points in Unicode.

Two Glyphs	Digraph	Unicode Code Point	HTML
DZ, Dz, dz	Ǳ, ǲ, ǳ	U+01F1 U+01F2 U+01F3	Ǳ ǲ ǳ
DŽ, Dž, dž	Ǆ, ǅ, ǆ	U+01C4 U+01C5 U+01C6	Ǆ ǅ ǆ
IJ, ij	Ĳ, ĳ	U+0132 U+0133	Ĳ ĳ
LJ, Lj, lj	Ǉ, ǈ, ǉ	U+01C7 U+01C8 U+01C9	Ǉ ǈ ǉ
NJ, Nj, nj	Ǌ, ǋ, ǌ	U+01CA U+01CB U+01CC	Ǌ ǋ ǌ
th	ᵺ	U+1D7A<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

References

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Digraph (orthography)

Homogeneous digraphTemplate:Anchor

Pan-dialectical digraphs

Split digraphs

Ambiguous letter sequences

In alphabetization

Examples

Latin script

English

Czech and Slovak

Taiwanese Hokkien

Cyrillic

Arabic script

Armenian

Georgian

Greek

Hebrew

Indic

Inuit

CJK Characters

Chinese

Japanese

Korean

Ligatures and new letters

In Unicode

See also

References

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