Tetragraph
Encyclopedia
A tetragraph is a sequence of four letters used to represent a single sound (phoneme), or a combination of sounds, that do not necessarily correspond to the individual values of the letters. In German, for example, the tetragraph tsch represents the sound of the English digraph
ch. English does not have tetragraphs in native words (the closest is perhaps the sequence -ough
in words like through), but chth is a true tetragraph when found initially in words of Greek origin such as chthonian.
Phonemes spelled with multiple characters often indicate that either the phoneme or the script is alien to the language. For example, the Cyrillic alphabets adapted to the Caucasian languages, which are phonologically very different from Russian, make extensive use of digraphs, trigraphs, and even a tetragraph in Kabardian
кхъу for /qʷ/. The Romanized Popular Alphabet
created for the Hmong language
s includes three tetragraphs: nplh, ntsh, and ntxh, which represent complex consonants.
("broad") consonants:
Used between two platalized
("slender") consonants:
Used between a broad and a slender consonant:
Used between a slender and a broad consonant:
⟨ddzs⟩ is a long variant of Hungarian dzs
. It is only found in suffixed words, such as bridzs + dzsel → briddzsel "with the bridge game"; otherwise the sound [dːʒ] is written ⟨dzs⟩ like [dʒ].
⟨dsch⟩ is used in German
to write the sound [dʒ].
⟨eeuw⟩ and ⟨ieuw⟩ are used in Dutch
for the sounds [eːu̯] and [iːu̯]. ⟨Uw⟩ alone stands for [yːu̯], so these sequences are not predictable.
⟨gqx’⟩ is used in the practical orthography of the Taa language, where it represents the prevoiced
affricate [ɢqχʼ].
⟨illi⟩ is used in French
to write the sound [j] in a few words such as médaillier [medaje].
⟨kngw⟩ is used for /ᵏŋʷ/ in Arrernte.
⟨ndlh⟩ [ndˡʱ], ⟨nplh⟩ [mbˡʱ], ⟨ntsh⟩ [ɳɖʐʱ], and ⟨ntxh⟩ [ndzʱ] are found in the Romanized Popular Alphabet
used to write Hmong
, representing a variety of prenasalized aspirate consonants.
⟨ng’w⟩ is used for [ŋʷ] in Swahili-based alphabets.
⟨nyng⟩ is used in Yanyuwa
to write a pre-velar
nasal, [ŋ̟].
⟨phth⟩ is read as an initial sound /θ/ or /fθ/ in English words of Greek origin such as phthisis. When not initial, it is usually pronounced /fθ/, as in naphthol., although sometimes /pθ/ can be heard.
⟨rtnw⟩ is used for /ʈɳʷ/ in Arrernte.
⟨thsh⟩ is used in Xhosa
to write the sound [tʃʰ]. It is often replaced with the ambiguous trigraph
⟨tsh⟩.
⟨thnw⟩ and ⟨tnhw⟩ are used for /ᵗ̪n̪ʷ/ in Arrernte.
⟨tnyw⟩ is used for /ᶜɲʷ/ in Arrernte.
⟨tsch⟩ is used in German
to write the sound [tʃ]. (See also ⟨tzsch⟩.)
⟨zsch⟩ is used for [tʃ] in a few German names such as Zschopau
.
used for languages of the Caucasus
, there are tetragraphs as doubled digraphs used for 'strong' consonants (typically transcribed in the IPA as geminate), and also labialized homologues of trigraphs.
⟨кхъу⟩ is used in Kabardian
for [qʷ], the labialized homologue of ⟨кхъ⟩ [q], in turn unpredictably derived from ejective ⟨къ⟩ [qʼ].
⟨кӀкӀ⟩ is used in Avar
for [kʼː], the 'strong' homologue of ⟨кӀ⟩ [kʼ], the ejective (⟨Ӏ⟩) homologue of ⟨к⟩ [k]. It is often substituted with ⟨кӀ⟩ [kʼ].
⟨цӀцӀ⟩ is used in Avar for [tsʼː]. It is often substituted with ⟨цӀ⟩ [tsʼ].
⟨чӀчӀ⟩ is used in Avar for [tʃʼː]. It is often substituted with ⟨чӀ⟩ [tʃʼ].
⟨гъӀв⟩ is used in Archi
for [ʁʷˤ]
⟨ккъӀ⟩ is used in Archi for [qːʼˤ]
⟨къIв⟩ is used in Archi for [qʼʷˤ]
⟨ллъв⟩ is used in Archi for [ɬːʷ]
⟨ххьI⟩ is used in Archi for [χːˤ]
⟨хъIв⟩ is used in Archi for [qʷˤ ]
⟨хьIв⟩ is used in Archi for [χʷˤ]
Digraph (orthography)
A digraph or digram is a pair of characters used to write one phoneme or a sequence of phonemes that does not correspond to the normal values of the two characters combined...
ch. English does not have tetragraphs in native words (the closest is perhaps the sequence -ough
Ough (combination)
Ough is a letter sequence often seen in words in the English language. In Middle English, where the spelling arose, it was probably pronounced with a back rounded vowel and a velar fricative, e.g., or . It is by far the sequence of letters with the most unpredictable pronunciation, having at least...
in words like through), but chth is a true tetragraph when found initially in words of Greek origin such as chthonian.
Phonemes spelled with multiple characters often indicate that either the phoneme or the script is alien to the language. For example, the Cyrillic alphabets adapted to the Caucasian languages, which are phonologically very different from Russian, make extensive use of digraphs, trigraphs, and even a tetragraph in Kabardian
Kabardian language
The Kabardian language, also known as East Circassian , is a Northwest Caucasian language, closely related to the Adyghe language. It is spoken mainly in the Russian republics of Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia and in Turkey and the Middle East...
кхъу for /qʷ/. The Romanized Popular Alphabet
Romanized Popular Alphabet
The Romanized Popular Alphabet or Hmong RPA , is a system of romanization for the various dialects of the Hmong language. Created in Laos between 1951 and 1953 by a group of missionaries and Hmong advisers, it has gone on to become the most widespread system for writing the Hmong language in the...
created for the Hmong language
Hmong language
Hmong or Mong is the common name for a dialect continuum of the West Hmongic branch of the Hmong–Mien/Miao–Yao language family spoken by the Hmong people of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, northern Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos...
s includes three tetragraphs: nplh, ntsh, and ntxh, which represent complex consonants.
Irish tetragraphs
Used between two velarizedVelarization
Velarization is a secondary articulation of consonants by which the back of the tongue is raised toward the velum during the articulation of the consonant.In the International Phonetic Alphabet, velarization is transcribed by one of three diacritics:...
("broad") consonants:
- ⟨adha⟩ and ⟨agha⟩ are used for [əi̯] (in DonegalDonegalDonegal or Donegal Town is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. Its name, which was historically written in English as Dunnagall or Dunagall, translates from Irish as "stronghold of the foreigners" ....
, [eː]).
- ⟨abha⟩, ⟨amha⟩, ⟨obha⟩, ⟨odha⟩, ⟨ogha⟩ are used for [əu̯] (in DonegalDonegalDonegal or Donegal Town is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. Its name, which was historically written in English as Dunnagall or Dunagall, translates from Irish as "stronghold of the foreigners" ....
, [oː]).
- ⟨omha⟩ is used for [oː].
Used between two platalized
Palatalization
In linguistics, palatalization , also palatization, may refer to two different processes by which a sound, usually a consonant, comes to be produced with the tongue in a position in the mouth near the palate....
("slender") consonants:
- ⟨eidh⟩ and ⟨eigh⟩ are used for [əi̯].
Used between a broad and a slender consonant:
- ⟨aidh⟩ and ⟨aigh⟩ are used for [əi̯] (in DonegalDonegalDonegal or Donegal Town is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. Its name, which was historically written in English as Dunnagall or Dunagall, translates from Irish as "stronghold of the foreigners" ....
, [eː]).
- ⟨oidh⟩ and ⟨oigh⟩ are used for [əi̯].
Used between a slender and a broad consonant:
- ⟨eabh⟩ and ⟨eamh⟩ are used for [əu̯] (in DonegalDonegalDonegal or Donegal Town is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. Its name, which was historically written in English as Dunnagall or Dunagall, translates from Irish as "stronghold of the foreigners" ....
, [oː]).
- ⟨eadh⟩ is used for [əi̯] (in DonegalDonegalDonegal or Donegal Town is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. Its name, which was historically written in English as Dunnagall or Dunagall, translates from Irish as "stronghold of the foreigners" ....
, [eː]) between a slender and a broad consonant, or for an unstressed [ə] at the end of a word.
Other languages (Latin script)
⟨chth⟩ is used for an initial sound /θ/ in English words of Greek origin such as chthonian. When not initial, it is pronounced /kθ/, as in autochthonous.⟨ddzs⟩ is a long variant of Hungarian dzs
Hungarian dzs
Dzs is the eighth letter, and only trigraph, of the Hungarian alphabet. Its name is pronounced , and represents the sounds and .-Length:In several words, it is pronounced long, e.g....
. It is only found in suffixed words, such as bridzs + dzsel → briddzsel "with the bridge game"; otherwise the sound [dːʒ] is written ⟨dzs⟩ like [dʒ].
⟨dsch⟩ is used in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
to write the sound [dʒ].
⟨eeuw⟩ and ⟨ieuw⟩ are used in Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
for the sounds [eːu̯] and [iːu̯]. ⟨Uw⟩ alone stands for [yːu̯], so these sequences are not predictable.
⟨gqx’⟩ is used in the practical orthography of the Taa language, where it represents the prevoiced
Pre-voicing (phonetics)
In phonetics, prevoicing means that voicing begins before the release of a stop consonant. This means that the voice onset time has a negative value...
affricate [ɢqχʼ].
⟨illi⟩ is used in French
French orthography
French orthography encompasses the spelling and punctuation of the French language. It is based on a combination of phonemic and historical principles. The spelling of words is largely based on the pronunciation of Old French c. 1100–1200 CE and has stayed more or less the same since then, despite...
to write the sound [j] in a few words such as médaillier [medaje].
⟨kngw⟩ is used for /ᵏŋʷ/ in Arrernte.
⟨ndlh⟩ [ndˡʱ], ⟨nplh⟩ [mbˡʱ], ⟨ntsh⟩ [ɳɖʐʱ], and ⟨ntxh⟩ [ndzʱ] are found in the Romanized Popular Alphabet
Romanized Popular Alphabet
The Romanized Popular Alphabet or Hmong RPA , is a system of romanization for the various dialects of the Hmong language. Created in Laos between 1951 and 1953 by a group of missionaries and Hmong advisers, it has gone on to become the most widespread system for writing the Hmong language in the...
used to write Hmong
Hmong language
Hmong or Mong is the common name for a dialect continuum of the West Hmongic branch of the Hmong–Mien/Miao–Yao language family spoken by the Hmong people of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, northern Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos...
, representing a variety of prenasalized aspirate consonants.
⟨ng’w⟩ is used for [ŋʷ] in Swahili-based alphabets.
⟨nyng⟩ is used in Yanyuwa
Yanyuwa language
The Yanyuwa language is spoken by the Yanyuwa people around the settlement of Borroloola in the Northern Territory, Australia....
to write a pre-velar
Velar consonant
Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum)....
nasal, [ŋ̟].
⟨phth⟩ is read as an initial sound /θ/ or /fθ/ in English words of Greek origin such as phthisis. When not initial, it is usually pronounced /fθ/, as in naphthol., although sometimes /pθ/ can be heard.
⟨rtnw⟩ is used for /ʈɳʷ/ in Arrernte.
⟨thsh⟩ is used in Xhosa
Xhosa language
Xhosa is one of the official languages of South Africa. Xhosa is spoken by approximately 7.9 million people, or about 18% of the South African population. Like most Bantu languages, Xhosa is a tonal language, that is, the same sequence of consonants and vowels can have different meanings when said...
to write the sound [tʃʰ]. It is often replaced with the ambiguous trigraph
Trigraph (orthography)
A trigraph is a group of three letters used to represent a single sound or a combination of sounds that does not correspond to the written letters combined. For example, in the word schilling, the trigraph sch represents the voiceless postalveolar fricative , rather than the consonant cluster...
⟨tsh⟩.
⟨thnw⟩ and ⟨tnhw⟩ are used for /ᵗ̪n̪ʷ/ in Arrernte.
⟨tnyw⟩ is used for /ᶜɲʷ/ in Arrernte.
⟨tsch⟩ is used in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
to write the sound [tʃ]. (See also ⟨tzsch⟩.)
⟨zsch⟩ is used for [tʃ] in a few German names such as Zschopau
Zschopau
Zschopau , a town in the German state Saxony, is located on both banks of the river Zschopau, south-east from Chemnitz. It is part of the Erzgebirgskreis district. Its population is 11,584...
.
Other languages (Cyrillic script)
In the Cyrillic alphabetCyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
used for languages of the Caucasus
Languages of the Caucasus
The languages of the Caucasus are a large and extremely varied array of languages spoken by more than ten million people in and around the Caucasus Mountains, which lie between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea....
, there are tetragraphs as doubled digraphs used for 'strong' consonants (typically transcribed in the IPA as geminate), and also labialized homologues of trigraphs.
⟨кхъу⟩ is used in Kabardian
Kabardian language
The Kabardian language, also known as East Circassian , is a Northwest Caucasian language, closely related to the Adyghe language. It is spoken mainly in the Russian republics of Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia and in Turkey and the Middle East...
for [qʷ], the labialized homologue of ⟨кхъ⟩ [q], in turn unpredictably derived from ejective ⟨къ⟩ [qʼ].
⟨кӀкӀ⟩ is used in Avar
Avar language
The modern Avar language belongs to the Avar–Andic group of the Northeast Caucasian language family....
for [kʼː], the 'strong' homologue of ⟨кӀ⟩ [kʼ], the ejective (⟨Ӏ⟩) homologue of ⟨к⟩ [k]. It is often substituted with ⟨кӀ⟩ [kʼ].
⟨цӀцӀ⟩ is used in Avar for [tsʼː]. It is often substituted with ⟨цӀ⟩ [tsʼ].
⟨чӀчӀ⟩ is used in Avar for [tʃʼː]. It is often substituted with ⟨чӀ⟩ [tʃʼ].
⟨гъӀв⟩ is used in Archi
Archi language
Archi is a Northeast Caucasian language spoken by the 1,200 Archis in the village of Archib, southern Dagestan, Russia and the six surrounding smaller villages...
for [ʁʷˤ]
⟨ккъӀ⟩ is used in Archi for [qːʼˤ]
⟨къIв⟩ is used in Archi for [qʼʷˤ]
⟨ллъв⟩ is used in Archi for [ɬːʷ]
⟨ххьI⟩ is used in Archi for [χːˤ]
⟨хъIв⟩ is used in Archi for [qʷˤ ]
⟨хьIв⟩ is used in Archi for [χʷˤ]
See also
- DigraphDigraph (orthography)A digraph or digram is a pair of characters used to write one phoneme or a sequence of phonemes that does not correspond to the normal values of the two characters combined...
- TrigraphTrigraph (orthography)A trigraph is a group of three letters used to represent a single sound or a combination of sounds that does not correspond to the written letters combined. For example, in the word schilling, the trigraph sch represents the voiceless postalveolar fricative , rather than the consonant cluster...
- PentagraphPentagraphA pentagraph is a sequence of five letters used to represent a single sound , or a combination of sounds, that do not necessarily correspond to the individual values of the letters...
- HexagraphHexagraphA hexagraph is a sequence of six letters used to represent a single sound , or a combination of sounds that do not correspond to the individual values of the letters...
- Multigraph (orthography)Multigraph (orthography)A multigraph is a sequence of letters that behaves as a unit and is not the sum of its parts, such as English ⟨ch⟩ or French ⟨eau⟩. The term is infrequently used, as the number of letters is usually specified:*Digraph...
- List of Latin letters