Digraph (orthography) - Types of Digraph

Types of Digraph

Various patterns are discernible in the form of digraphs. In English, consonant digraphs tend largely to consist of some letter plus ⟨h⟩, or to be double letters. Doubling is a common digraph strategy in many orthographies.

Heterogeneous consonant digraphs in English include:

• ⟨ch⟩ usually corresponds to /tʃ/ (voiceless postalveolar affricate), to /k/ (voiceless velar plosive) when used as an etymological digraph in words of Greek origin, less commonly to /ʃ/ (voiceless postalveolar fricative) in words of French origin.
• ⟨ci⟩ usually appears as /ʃ/ before vowels.
• ⟨gh⟩ represents /ɡ/ (voiced velar plosive) at the beginning of words, represents /f/ (voiceless labiodental fricative) or is silent at the end of words.
• ⟨ng⟩ represents /ŋ/ (velar nasal).
• ⟨ph⟩ represents /f/ (voiceless labiodental fricative).
• ⟨qu⟩ usually represents /kw/; ⟨q⟩ is conventionally followed by u.
• ⟨rh⟩ represents English /r/ in words of Greek origin.
• ⟨sc⟩ normally represents /s/ (voiceless alveolar fricative) or /ʃ/ (voiceless postalveolar fricative) before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩.
• ⟨sh⟩ represents /ʃ/ (voiceless postalveolar fricative).
• ⟨th⟩ usually corresponds to /θ/ (voiceless interdental fricative) or /ð/ (voiced interdental fricative). See also Pronunciation of English ⟨th⟩.
• ⟨wh⟩ represents /hw/ in some conservative dialects; /w/ in other dialects; and /h/ in a few words where it is followed by ⟨o⟩, such as who and whole. See also Phonological history of ⟨wh⟩.
• ⟨wr⟩ represents /r/. Originally, it stood for a labialized sound, while ⟨r⟩ without ⟨w⟩ was non-labialized, but this distinction was lost in most dialects, the two sounds merging into a single alveolar approximant, allophonically labialized at the start of syllables, as in red . See also Rhotic consonant.
• ⟨zh⟩ represents /ʒ/ in words transliterated from Slavic languages, and in American dictionary pronunciation spelling.

Digraphs may also be composed of vowels. Common examples in English are:

• ⟨ai⟩ is usually pronounced /eɪ/.
• ⟨au⟩ is usually pronounced /ɔː/.
• ⟨aw⟩ is pronounced /ɔː/.
• ⟨ay⟩ is usually pronounced /eɪ/.
• ⟨ea⟩ is pronounced /iː/, /ɛ/, or more rarely /eɪ/.
• ⟨ee⟩ is pronounced /iː/
• ⟨ei⟩ is usually pronounced /aɪ/ or /eɪ/, or /iː/ after ⟨c⟩.
• ⟨eu⟩ is usually pronounced /juː/ or /uː/.
• ⟨ew⟩ is usually pronounced /juː/ or /uː/.
• ⟨ie⟩ is usually pronounced /iː/.
• ⟨oa⟩ is usually pronounced /oʊ/.
• ⟨oi⟩ is pronounced /ɔɪ/.
• ⟨oo⟩ is pronounced /uː/ or /ʊ/
• ⟨ou⟩ is usually pronounced /aʊ/, more rarely /uː/.
• ⟨ow⟩ is pronounced /aʊ/ or /oʊ/.
• ⟨oy⟩ is pronounced /ɔɪ/.

For further information on English, see English orthography.

There is also a split digraph, which has a consonant in between two vowels, e.g. ⟨asa⟩.

In some languages doubled letters indicate consonant length or vowel length, a stressed syllable or a specific sound, but in other cases they are just part of the spelling convention. ⟨Ll⟩ is the most common in English, though it does not represent a different sound from ⟨l⟩, being essentially an etymological digraph. In Welsh, however, ⟨ll⟩ stands for a voiceless lateral, and in Spanish and Catalan it stands for a palatal consonant. ⟨Ee⟩ and ⟨oo⟩ are vocalic examples from English.

In several languages of western Europe, including English, French and Catalan, ⟨ss⟩ is used between vowels for the voiceless sibilant /s/, since an ⟨s⟩ alone between vowels is normally voiced, /z/. In German, this digraph was fused into the ligature ß.

In Romance languages such as Spanish or Catalan, rr is used between vowels for the alveolar trill /r/, since an r alone between vowels represents an alveolar flap /ɾ/ (the two are different phonemes in these languages).

In Spanish the digraph nn, which used to indicate /ɲ/ (palatal nasal), was turned into the letter ñ, while ll indicates /ʎ/ (traditionally a palatal lateral approximant, though it has several dialectal variants in modern Spanish).

In Portuguese, the digraph nh indicates /ɲ/ (equivalent to Spanish ñ and to French and Italian gn), and lh indicates /ʎ/ (equivalent to Spanish ll).

In Italian, zz (as in the word pizza) is an affricate, /ts/ or /dz/.

In several Germanic languages, including English, CC (where C stands for a given consonant) corresponds to C and signifies that the preceding vowel is short.

In Basque, double letters mark palatalized versions as in dd, ll, tt. Note however that rr is a trill contrasting with the single-letter flap and that the palatal version of n is ñ.