A digraph or '''bigraph''' is a pair of Letter s used to write one sound or a combination of sounds that does not correspond to the written letters combined. This is often, but not necessarily, a sound (or more precisely a Phoneme ) which cannot be expressed using a single letter in the Alphabet used for writing.
Sometimes, when digraphs do not represent a new phoneme, they are a relic from an earlier period in the language's history when they did (or remain phonemic only in certain dialects, e.g. ''wh'' in English).
Some schemes of Transliteration into the Roman Alphabet make extensive use of digraphs (e.g. Cyrillic to Roman for English readers), while others rely solely on Diacritics (e.g. Cyrillic to The Modified Roman used for Turkish ). To avoid ambiguity, transliteration based on diacritics is generally preferred in academic circles. Many writing systems, like Cyrillic and Devanagari , have no digraphs, and so transliterations into languages using them also cannot use digraphs.
There are three kinds of digraphs: sequences, reversals (really a special kind of sequence) and doubled letters.
Sequences
This is a group of two letters, both of which are different.
Examples from languages include:
- English
- --- '' Ch '', usually corresponds to ( Voiceless Postalveolar Affricate ), less often to ( Voiceless Postalveolar Fricative )
- --- Wh , corresponds to ( Voiceless Labial-velar Fricative ; see also Hwair )
- --- '' Th '', usually corresponds to ( Voiceless Interdental Fricative ) or , ( Voiced Interdental Fricative )
- --- '' Sh '', corresponds to , ( Voiceless Postalveolar Fricative )
- --- '' Ng '', corresponds to ( Velar Nasal )
- --- ''kn'', corresponds to ( Alveolar Nasal )
- --- ''ph'', corresponds to ( Voiceless Labiodental Fricative )
- --- ''gh'', corresponds to ( Voiceless Labiodental Fricative ) or is silent
- --- ''ck'', corresponds to ( Voiceless Velar Plosive )
- --- ''ea'', ''ie'', ''ei'' correspond mostly to ( Close Front Unrounded Vowel )
- --- ''ai'', ''ay'' correspond mostly to ( followed by Close Front Unrounded Vowel )
- --- ''ue'' corresponds to ( Close Back Unrounded Vowel )
- French
- --- ''ai'', corresponds to ( Open-mid Front Unrounded Vowel )
- --- ''au'', corresponds to ( Close-mid Back Rounded Vowel )
- --- ''ch'', corresponds to ( Voiceless Postalveolar Fricative )
- --- ''ou'', corresponds to ( Close Back Rounded Vowel ) or ( Labio-velar Approximant )
- --- ''gn'', corresponds to ( Palatal Nasal )
- --- ''qu'', corresponds to ( Voiceless Velar Stop ), typically before historic Front Vowel s
- German
- --- ''ae'', as ä , corresponds to ( Open-mid Front Unrounded Vowel )
- --- ''ch'', corresponds to ( Voiceless Velar Fricative ) or ( Voiceless Palatal Fricative )
- --- ''ck'', corresponds to ( Voiceless Velar Plosive )
- --- ''ei'', corresponds to ( Open Front Unrounded Vowel ) followed by ( Near-close Near-front Unrounded Vowel )
- --- ''eu'', corresponds to ( Open-mid Back Rounded Vowel ) followed by ( Near-close Near-front Rounded Vowel )
- --- ''oe'', as ö , corresponds to ( Open-mid Front Rounded Vowel ) or ( Close-mid Front Rounded Vowel )
- --- ''ss'', as ß , corresponds to ( Voiceless Alveolar Fricative )
- --- ''ue'', as ü , corresponds to ( Close Front Rounded Vowel ) or ( Near-close Near-front Rounded Vowel )
- Modern Greek
- --- ''αι'' (ai), corresponds to
- --- ''ει'' (ei), corresponds to
- --- ''οι'' (oi), corresponds to
- --- ''ου'' (ou), corresponds to
- --- ''γκ'' (gk), corresponds to
- --- ''μπ'' (mp), corresponds to
- --- ''ντ'' (nt), corresponds to
Some of the above depend on context — see Greek Alphabet .
- Polish
- --- ''dz''
- --- ''dzi''
- --- ''dź''
- --- ''dż''
- --- '' Ch ''
- --- ''rz''
- --- ''sz'', as ''sh'' in English
- Thai (transcription system)
- ---''kh'', corresponds to
- ---''ph'', corresponds to
- ---''th'', corresponds to
- ---''ng'', corresponds to
Reversals
Reversals are sequences in which both possible orders of letters are common enough to be digraphs.
- English
- --- ''re'' corresponds to
- --- ''le'' corresponds to
Doubled letters
These have both letters the same. In some languages these indicate length, a stressed syllable or a new sound, and in some cases they are just part of the spelling convention. ''Ll'' is the most common in English, though it does not represent a different sound, but that is not the case in other languages; Welsh 's '' Ll '' is a voiceless lateral, and in Spanish it is a Palatal Lateral Approximant or else a palatal fricative. ''Ee'' and ''oo'' are common examples from English. ''Rr'' in Spanish and Portuguese indicates a Trill , and forms a Minimal Pair with the single r. Italian 's ''zz'' represents the Affricate .
- Czech
In Czech (and analogically in other Slavic Languages ) doubled letters occur in word-formation by Prefix es and Suffix es, and in Composite words. Therefore, doubled letters are not considered as digraphs in Czech. Examples:
- --- ''bez''zubý (toothless)
- --- cen''ný'' (valuable)
- --- černo''oký'' (black-eyed)
See also
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