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Digraph (orthography)

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This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

A digraph or bigraph is a pair of letters 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 different letters in a specific order.

Examples from languages include:

See also French phonology
  • Modern Greek
    • αι (ai) represents /ɛ/
    • ει (ei) represents /i/
    • οι (oi) represents /i/
    • ου (ou) represents /u/
    • γκ (gk) represents /k/
    • μπ (mp) represents /b/
    • ντ (nt) represents /d/

Some of the above depend on context — see Greek alphabet.

  • Thai (transcription system)
    • kh represents /kʰ/
    • ph represents /pʰ/
    • th represents /tʰ/
    • ng represents /ŋ/

Reversals

Reversals are sequences in which both possible orders of letters are common enough to be digraphs.

  • English
    • re corresponds to /ər/
    • le corresponds to /əl/

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 /ʎ/ or else a palatal fricative. Ee and oo are common examples from English. Rr in Spanish and Italian indicates a trill, and forms a minimal pair with the single r. Italian's zz represents the affricate /ʦ/.

In Czech (and analogically in other Slavic languages) doubled letters occur in word-formation by prefixes and suffixes, and in composite words. Therefore, doubled letters are not considered as digraphs in Czech. Examples:

    • bezzubý (toothless)
    • cenný (valuable)
    • černooký (black-eyed)

See also

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