Cyrillic digraphs

The Cyrillic script
Slavic letters
АА̀А̂А̄ӒБВГ
ҐДЂЃЕЀЕ̄Е̂
ЁЄЖЗЗ́ЅИІ
ЇЍИ̂ӢЙЈК
ЛЉМНЊОО̀О̂
ŌӦПРСС́ТЋ
ЌУУ̀У̂ӮЎӰФ
ХЦЧЏШЩЪ
Ъ̀ЫЬѢЭЮЮ̀Я
Я̀
Non-Slavic letters
ӐА̊А̃Ӓ̄ӔӘӘ́Ә̃
ӚВ̌ԜГ̑Г̇Г̣Г̌Г̂
Г̆Г̈г̊ҔҒӺҒ̌
ғ̊ӶД́Д̌Д̈Д̣Д̆
ӖЕ̃Ё̄Є̈ԐԐ̈ҖӜ
ӁЖ̣ҘӞЗ̌З̣З̆Ӡ
И̃ӤҊҚӃҠҞҜ
К̣к̊қ̊ԚЛ́ӅԮ
ԒЛ̈ӍН́ӉҢԨ
ӇҤО̆О̃Ӧ̄ӨӨ̄Ө́
Ө̆ӪԤП̈Р̌ҎР̌С̌
ҪС̣С̱Т́Т̈Т̌Т̇Т̣
ҬУ̃ӲУ̊Ӱ̄ҰҮ
Ү́Х̣Х̱Х̮Х̑Х̌ҲӼ
х̊Ӿӿ̊ҺҺ̈ԦЦ̌Ц̈
ҴҶҶ̣ӴӋҸЧ̇
Ч̣ҼҾШ̣Ы̆Ы̄Ӹ
ҌҨЭ̆Э̄Э̇ӬӬ́
Ӭ̄Ю̆Ю̈Ю̄Я̆Я̄Я̈Ӏ
ʼˮ
Archaic or unused letters
А̨Б̀Б̣Б̱В̀Г̀Г̧
Г̄Г̓Г̆Ҕ̀Ҕ̆ԀД̓
Д̀Д̨ԂЕ̇Е̨
Ж̀Ж̑Џ̆
Ꚅ̆З̀З̑ԄԆ
ԪІ̂І̣І̨
Ј̵Ј̃К̓К̀К̆Ӄ̆
К̑К̇К̈К̄ԞК̂
Л̀ԠԈЛ̑Л̇Ԕ
М̀М̃Н̀Н̄Н̧
Н̃ԊԢН̡Ѻ
П̓П̀
П́ҦП̧П̑ҀԚ̆Р́
Р̀Р̃ԖС̀С̈ԌҪ̓
Т̓Т̀ԎТ̑Т̧
Ꚍ̆ОУУ̇
У̨ꙋ́Ф̑Ф̓Х́Х̀Х̆Х̇
Х̧Х̾Х̓һ̱ѠѼ
ѾЦ̀Ц́Ц̓Ꚏ̆
Ч́Ч̀Ч̆Ч̑Ч̓
ԬꚆ̆Ҽ̆Ш̀
Ш̆Ш̑Щ̆Ꚗ̆Ъ̄Ъ̈
Ъ̈̄Ы̂Ы̃Ѣ́Ѣ̈Ѣ̆
Э̨Э̂Ю̂
Я̈Я̂Я̨ԘѤѦѪ
ѨѬѮѰѲѴ
Ѷ

The Cyrillic script family contains many specially treated two-letter combinations, or digraphs, but few of these are used in Slavic languages. In a few alphabets, trigraphs and even the occasional tetragraph or pentagraph are used.

In early Cyrillic, the digraphs ⟨оу⟩ and ⟨оѵ⟩ were used for /u/. As with the equivalent digraph in Greek, they were reduced to a typographic ligature, ⟨ꙋ⟩, and are now written ⟨у⟩. The modern letters ⟨ы⟩ and ⟨ю⟩ started out as digraphs, ⟨ъі⟩ and ⟨іо⟩. In Church Slavonic printing practice, both historical and modern, ⟨оу⟩ (which is considered as a letter from the alphabet's point of view) is mostly treated as two individual characters, but ⟨ы⟩ is a single letter. For example, letter-spacing affects ⟨оу⟩ as if they were two individual letters, and never affects components of ⟨ы⟩. In a context of Old Slavonic language, ⟨шт⟩ is a digraph that can replace a letter ⟨щ⟩ and vice versa.

Modern Slavic languages written in the Cyrillic alphabet make little or no use of digraphs. There are only two true digraphs: ⟨дж⟩ for /d͡ʒ/ and ⟨дз⟩ for /d͡z/ (Belarusian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian). Sometimes these digraphs are even considered as special letters of their respective alphabets. In standard Russian, however, the letters in ⟨дж⟩ and ⟨дз⟩ are always pronounced separately. Digraph-like letter pairs include combinations of consonants with the soft sign ⟨ь⟩ (Serbian/Macedonian letters ⟨љ⟩ and ⟨њ⟩ are derived from ⟨ль⟩ and ⟨нь⟩), and ⟨жж⟩ or ⟨зж⟩ for the uncommon and optional Russian phoneme /ʑː/. Native descriptions of Cyrillic writing system often use the term "digraph" to combinations ⟨ьо⟩ and ⟨йо⟩ (Bulgarian, Ukrainian) as they both correspond to a single letter ⟨ё⟩ of Russian and Belarusian alphabets (⟨ьо⟩ is used for /ʲo/, and ⟨йо⟩ for /jo/).

Cyrillic uses large numbers of digraphs only when used to write non-Slavic languages; in some languages such as Avar, these are completely regular in formation.

Many Caucasian languages use ⟨ә⟩ (Abkhaz), ⟨у⟩ (Kabardian & Adyghe), or ⟨в⟩ (Avar) for labialization, just as many of them, like Russian, use ⟨ь⟩ for palatalization. Since such sequences are decomposable, regular forms will not be listed below. (In Abkhaz, ⟨ә⟩ with sibilants is equivalent to ⟨ьә⟩, for instance ж /ʐ/, жь /ʒ/~/ʐʲ/, жә /ʒʷ/~/ʐʲʷ/, but this is predictable phonetic detail.) Similarly, long vowels written double in some languages, such as ⟨аа⟩ for Abkhaz /aː/ or ⟨аюу⟩ for Kirghiz /ajuː/ "bear", or with glottal stop, as Tajik аъ [aʔ~aː], are not included.


© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search