Digraph (orthography) - Digraphs Versus Letters

Digraphs Versus Letters

In some languages, 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 which composes them, in orthography or collation. Other languages, such as English, make no such convention, and split digraphs into their constituent letters for collation purposes. A few language alphabets that include digraphs are:

• Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian. Note that in the Cyrillic orthography, these sounds are represented by single letters, rather than pairs of letters.
  • lj corresponds to /ʎ/, (palatal lateral approximant)
  • nj corresponds to /ɲ/ (palatal nasal)
  • dž corresponds to /dʒ/ (voiced postalveolar affricate)

• Czech.
  • ch corresponds to /x/ (voiceless velar fricative), counted as a distinct letter
  • dž corresponds to /dʒ/ (voiced postalveolar affricate), not counted as a distinct letter, relatively rare digraph

• Danish and Norwegian. Aa represented /ɔ/ until 1917 in Norway and 1948 in Denmark, but is today spelt å. The aa is still used in older names.

• Hungarian.
  • cs represents /tʃ/ (voiceless postalveolar affricate)
  • dz represents /dz/ (voiced postalveolar affricate)
  • gy represents /ɟ/ (voiced palatal plosive)
  • ly originally represented /ʎ/ (palatal lateral approximant), but in the modern language stands for /j/ (palatal approximant)
  • ny represents /ɲ/ (palatal nasal)
  • sz represents /s/ (voiceless alveolar fricative) (s is pronounced /ʃ/)
  • ty represents /c/ (voiceless palatal plosive)
  • zs represents /ʒ/ (voiced postalveolar fricative)
  • The Hungarian alphabet additionally contains also a trigraph, dzs /dʒ/.

• Polish.
  • ch corresponds to /x/ (voiceless velar fricative)
  • cz corresponds to /tʂ/ (voiceless retroflex affricate)
  • dz corresponds to /dz/ (voiced alveolar affricate)
  • dź corresponds to /dʑ/ (voiced alveolo-palatal affricate)
  • dż corresponds to /dʐ/ (voiced retroflex affricate)
  • rz corresponds to /ʐ/ (voiced retroflex fricative)
  • sz corresponds to /ʂ/ (voiceless retroflex fricative)

• Spanish. In addition to ll (see above), there is the digraph ch, which represents /tʃ/ (voiceless postalveolar affricate). Since 1994, neither are 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 rr, pronounced as a distinct alveolar trill, is considered to be a letter in the Spanish alphabet, however no words begin with rr, so it does not have a separate entry in Spanish dictionaries.

• Welsh. The digraphs listed below represent distinct phonemes. On the other hand, the digraphs mh, nh, and the trigraph ngh, which stand for voiceless consonants, but only occur at the beginning of words as a result of the nasal mutation, are not included in the alphabet.
  • ch represents /x/ (voiceless velar fricative)
  • dd represents /ð/ (voiced dental fricative), like the English th in then.
  • ff represents /f/ (voiceless labiodental fricative), like English f, since Welsh f is pronounced like an English v.
  • ll represents /ɬ/ (voiceless alveolar lateral fricative)
  • ng represents /ŋ/ (velar nasal), the same sound as in English.
  • ph represents /f/ (voiceless labiodental fricative)
  • rh represents /r̥/ (voiceless alveolar trill), pronounced roughly like the combination hr.
  • th represents /θ/ (voiceless interdental fricative)

• Wymysorys, Irish and Scottish Gaelic
  • have the uncommon digraph ao.

• Min Nan.
  • Or represents /ə/ (mid central vowel) or /o/ (close-mid back rounded vowel).