I was reading The Straight Dope message boards and came across this:
quote: quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Originally posted by dropzone I have always preferred "preternatural," leaving the possibility that we may someday understand it. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I prefer præternatural, but then, I'm a sucker for digraphs.
So, a digraph is that "ae" symbol or letter or whatever you'd call it? I've always wondered what the story is behind it. Someone here must be able to enlighten me!
quote:A digraph is a pair of letters used to write one sound. This is often, but not necessarily, a sound (or more precisely a phoneme) which cannot be expressed using a single letter in the Latin alphabet, for instance the ch and th used in English spelling.
(a) A coalition or union of two vowel sounds pronounced in one syllable; as, ou in out, oi in noise; -- called a proper diphthong. (b) A vowel digraph; a union of two vowels in the same syllable, only one of them being sounded; as, ai in rain, eo in people; -- called an improper diphthong.
Posts: 6708 | Location: Kehena Beach, Hawaii, U.S.A.
Isn't that one of those words that "sound dirty, but aren't"? --------------------------------------------- Tell ya what, WB, you show up at my place dressed in one, and I'll be glad to tell you whether it's dirty or not!
quote:...meaning all diphthongs are digraphs (in the Roman alphabet, anyway), but not all digraphs are diphthongs.
Right. Dipthongs are composed of vowel sounds only, whereas digraphs can include consonants.
"Digraph" also has a meaning in mathematics. It is short for "directed graph", and it is a diagram composed of points called vertices (nodes) and arrows called arcs going from a vertex to a vertex. See this page.
