A digraph is created with two letters that represent a single acoustic segment or a double one with affricate articulation. For example: rr (as in the word "fox").
The sequence formed by a pair of letters that represents a single sound is called a digraph . The term is used in the field of linguistics .
Digraphs are sets of two letters whose representation is a single acoustic segment or a double one with affricate articulation . In our language , we find digraphs such as ll , ch and rr , among others.
Examples of digraphs
In the case of ll and ch , for many years they were recognized as letters that were part of the alphabet . However, with the passage of time they lost that consideration, so today it can be said that both are digraphs ( ll formed by two letters L , while ch is made up of C and H ). “Run over” , “tacho” , “chicken” , “chico” , “there” and “snap” are examples of words that include these digraphs.
The digraph rr , meanwhile, appears when there are two Rs in an intervocalic position (that is, located between vowels ): “grill” , “cigar” , “carriage” , “fox” .
The digraph qu appears in the word "cheese."
The location of certain phonemes
There are digraphs, on the other hand, that arise from a specific location of certain phonemes . That is the case of qu and gu .
The phoneme /k/ , before an I or an E , gives rise to the digraph qu : “tachycardia” , “cheese” , “machinery” , “poker” . The presence of an I or an E before the phoneme /g/ also generates a digraph, in this case gu : “stew” , “warrior” , “guillotine” , “disclose” .
Considerations about some digraphs
Returning to the digraph rr , it is important to note that it can never be located at the beginning of a word, nor at the end. Another of its most striking characteristics is that its sound cannot be reproduced at the end of a word, where we can only pronounce the r , its "soft" version. However, it is found at the beginning of many terms, although in those cases a single r is written, as is the case with "break" and "recover."
Something similar happens with the digraph qu , although with certain differences: it can never go at the end of a word, but it can go at the beginning. Furthermore, we can reproduce the same sound with the letters c and k , depending on the case: house , kilogram , wanted . Our diction allows us to pronounce this sound at the end, as happens with Iraq , but it is not a Spanish word.
The gu digraph has similar limitations, although there are no words that end with this sound. Yes, it is possible to reproduce it by using the g , if it is followed by the vowels o , a or u : "taste", "cat" or "drop".
Its importance in the language
Digraphs are very important in our language, since they present us with a series of rules and exceptions that we must know to write, read and speak correctly. However, for different reasons, spelling seems to have less and less relevance in modern life, and it is not uncommon to find a young student who is unaware of these and other language issues.
The spelling and grammatical autocorrection that most computer programs offer us generates a lack of attention that, over the years, settles and replaces the active look at the past: it is no longer necessary to think about "how we write" but it is enough to Focus on the content . Of course, the problem does not end here, because if we do not know the language thoroughly, we will not be able to use it to its full extent, to express endless ideas.
Far from being a pessimistic or opposing view of technological advances, this position aims to add rather than replace. This is the only way to enhance our abilities: study all the concepts of the past and combine them with current knowledge, to be able to write, read and speak better than our ancestors .
It is important to mention, finally, that digraphs exist in many other languages . In Catalan we can find the digraph ny and in French, the digraph ou , to mention just two possibilities.