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TheCyrillic script family contains many specially treated two-letter combinations, ordigraphs, but few of these are used inSlavic languages. In a few alphabets,trigraphs and even the occasionaltetragraph orpentagraph 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 atypographic ligature,⟨ꙋ⟩, and are now written⟨у⟩. The modern letters⟨ы⟩ and⟨ю⟩ started out as digraphs,⟨ъі⟩ and⟨іо⟩. InChurch 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 ofOld 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/.and also⟨вв⟩ for /v/. 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.
ManyCaucasian languages use⟨ә⟩ (Abkhaz),⟨у⟩ (Kabardian & Adyghe), or⟨в⟩ (Avar) forlabialization, just as many of them, like Russian, use⟨ь⟩ forpalatalization. Since such sequences are decomposable, regular forms will not be listed below. (InAbkhaz,⟨ә⟩ withsibilants 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⟩ forKirghiz/ajuː/ "bear", or with glottal stop, asTajikаъ[aʔ~aː], are not included.
Archi: а́а[áː], аӏ[aˤ], а́ӏ[áˤ], ааӏ[aːˤ], гв[ɡʷ], гь[h], гъ[ʁ], гъв[ʁʷ], гъӏ[ʁˤ], гъӏв[ʁʷˤ], гӏ[ʕ], е́е[éː], еӏ[eˤ], е́ӏ[éˤ], жв[ʒʷ], зв[zʷ], и́и[íː], иӏ[iˤ], кк[kː], кв[kʷ], ккв[kːʷ], кӏ[kʼ], кӏв[kʷʼ], къ[qʼ], къв[q’ʷ], ккъ[qː’], къӏ[qˤʼ], ккъӏ[qːˤʼ], къӏв[qʷˤʼ], ккъӏв[qːʷˤʼ], кь[kʟ̥ʼ], кьв[kʟ̥ʷʼ], лъ[ɬ], ллъ[ɬː], лъв[ɬʷ], ллъв[ɬːʷ], лӏ[kʟ̥], лӏв[kʟ̥ʷ], о́о[óː], оӏ[oˤ], о́ӏ[óˤ], ооӏ[oːˤ], пп[pː], пӏ[pʼ], сс[sː], св[sʷ], тт[tː], тӏ[tʼ], тв[tʷ], твӏ[t’ʷ], у́у[úː], уӏ[uˤ], у́ӏ[úˤ], хх[χː], хв[χʷ], ххв[χːʷ], хӏ[ħ], хьӏ[χˤ], ххьӏ[χːˤ], хьӏв[χʷˤ], ххьӏв[χːʷˤ], хъ[q], хъв[qʷ], хъӏ[qˤ], хъӏв[qʷˤ], цв[t͡sʷ], цӏ[t͡sʼ], ццӏ[t͡sː], чв[t͡ʃʷ], чӏ[t͡ʃʼ], чӏв[t͡ʃ’ʷ], шв[ʃʷ], щв[ʃːʷ], ээ[əː], эӏ[əˤ]
Avar uses⟨в⟩ for labialization, as in хьв/xʷ/. Other digraphs are:
The ь digraphs are spelled this way even before vowels, as inгьабуна/habuna/ "made", not *гябуна.
Note that three of these are tetragraphs. However, gemination for the 'strong' consonants in Avar orthography is sporadic, and the simple letters or digraphs are frequently used in their place.
TheBelarusian language has the following digraphs:
Chechen uses the following digraphs:
The vowel digraphs are used for front vowels for otherDagestanian languages and also the local Turkic languagesKumyk andNogay.⟨Ӏ⟩ digraphs for ejectives is common across the North Caucasus, as is гӏ for/ɣ~ʁ~ʕ/.
Kabardian and Adyghe both use⟨у⟩ for labialization, as in ӏу/ʔʷ/. гу is/ɡʷ/, though г is/ɣ/); ку is/kʷ/, despite the fact that к is not used outsideloan words.[a]
Other digraphs are:
Labialized, the trigraph becomes the unusual tetragraph кхъу/qʷ/.
Tabasaran uses gemination for its 'strong' consonants, but this has a different value with г.
It uses⟨в⟩ for labialization of itspostalveolar consonants: шв/ʃʷ/, жв/ʒʷ/, чв/tʃʰʷ/, джь/dʒʷ/, ь/tʃʼʷ/, ччь/tʃʷʰː/).
Tatar has a number of vowels which are written with ambiguous letters that are normally resolved by context, but which are resolved by discontinuous digraphs when context is not sufficient. These ambiguous vowel letters are е,front/je/ orback/jɤ/, ю, front/jy/ or back/ju/; and я, front/jæ/ or back/ja/. They interact with the ambiguous consonant letters к,velar/k/ oruvular/q/, and г, velar/ɡ/ or uvular/ʁ/.
In general, velar consonants occur before front vowels and uvular consonants before back vowels, so it is frequently not necessary to specify these values in the orthography. However, this is not always the case. A uvular followed by a front vowel, as in/qærdæʃ/ "kinsman", for example, is written with the corresponding back vowel to specify the uvular value: кардәш. The front value of а is required byvowel harmony with the following front vowel ә, so this spelling is unambiguous.
If, however, the proper value of the vowel is not recoverable through vowel harmony, then the letter ь/ʔ/ is added at the end of the syllable, as inшагыйрь/ʃaʁir/ "poet". That is,/i/ is written with a ы rather than a и to show that the г is pronounced/ʁ/ rather than/ɡ/, then the ь is added to show that the ы is pronounced as if it were a и, so the discontinuous digraph ы...ь is used here to write the vowel/i/. This strategy is also followed with the ambiguous letters е, ю, and я in final syllables, for instance inюнь/jyn/cheap. That is, the discontinuous digraphs е...ь, ю...ь, я...ь are used for/j/ plus the front vowels/e,y,æ/.
Exceptional final-syllable velars and uvulars, however, are written with simple digraphs, with ь for velars and ъ for uvulars:пакь/pak/pure,вәгъдә/wæʁdæ/promise.
TheUkrainian language has the following digraphs:
In theCyrillization of Mandarin, there are digraphs цз and чж, which correspond to Pinyinz/j andzh. Finaln is нь, while н stands for finalng. юй isyu, but юyou, ю-yu-, -уй-ui.
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