Dz is adigraph of theLatin script, consisting of the consonantsD andZ. It may represent/d͡z/,/t͡s/, or/z/, depending on the language.
Dz generally represents/d͡z/ in Latin alphabets, includingHungarian,Kashubian,Latvian,Lithuanian,Polish,Slovak, andromanized Macedonian. However, inDene Suline (Chipewyan) and theILE romanization of Cantonese, it represents/t͡s/, and inVietnamese it is apronunciation respelling of the letterD to represent/z/.[1]
Some Esperanto grammars, notablyPlena Analiza Gramatiko de Esperanto,[2] considerdz to be a digraph for the voiced affricate[d͡z], as inedzo "husband". The case for this is "rather weak".[3] Most Esperantists, including Esperantist linguists (Janton,[4] Wells[5]), reject it.
| Hungarian language |
|---|
 Hungarian alphabet |
| Alphabet |
| Grammar |
| History |
| Other features |
| Hungarian and English |
⟨Dz⟩ is the seventh letter of theHungarian alphabet. It is calleddzé (IPA:[d͡zeː]) as a letter of the alphabet, where it represents thevoiced alveolar affricate phoneme/dz/.
⟨Dz⟩ and ⟨dzs⟩ were recognized as individual letters in the 11th edition ofHungarian orthography (1984).[6] Prior to that, they were analyzed as two-letter combinations ⟨d⟩+⟨z⟩ and ⟨d⟩+⟨zs⟩.
Like most Hungarian consonants, the sound/dz/ can begeminated. However, the letter is onlydoubled in writing (to⟨ddz⟩) when anassimilated suffix is added to the stem:eddze, lopóddzon.
In several words, it is pronouncedlong, e.g.bodza, madzag, edz, pedz. In some other ones, short, e.g.dzadzíki, dzéta, Dzerzsinszkij (usually at the beginning of words), though it is always short after another consonant (e.g. inbrindza).
In several verbs ending in-dzik (approximately fifty), there is a free alternation with-zik, e.g.csókolódzik orcsókolózik, lopódzik orlopózik. In other verbs, there is no variation:birkózik, mérkőzik (only with⟨z⟩) butleledzik, nyáladzik (only with⟨dz⟩, pronounced long). In some other verbs, there is a difference in meaning:levelez(ik) "to correspond", butleveledzik "to produce leaves".
Usage of this letter is similar to that ofPolish andSlovak languages: though⟨dz⟩ is a digraph composed of⟨d⟩ and⟨z⟩, it is considered one letter, and evenacronyms keep the letter intact.
Dz generally represents[d͡z]. However, when followed byi it ispalatalized to[d͡ʑ].
dzwonⓘ (bell)
rodzajⓘ (kind, type)
Comparedz followed byi:
dzieckoⓘ (child)
dziewczynaⓘ (girl, girlfriend)
In Slovak, the digraphdz is the ninthletter of theSlovak alphabet. Example words with this phoneme include:
The digraph may never be divided byhyphenation:
However, whend andz come from differentmorphemes, they are treated as separate letters, and must be divided by hyphenation:
In both casesod- (from) andnad- (above) are aprefix to the stemszem (earth) andzvuk (sound).
Dz is sometimes used inVietnamese names as apronunciation respelling of the letterD. Several common Vietnamese given names start with the letterD, includingDũng,Dụng, andDương. WhereasD is pronounced as some sort of dental or alveolar stop in most Latin alphabets, an unadornedD in theVietnamese alphabet represents either/z/ (Northern Vietnamese) or/j/ (Southern Vietnamese), while the letterĐ represents avoiced alveolar implosive (/ɗ/) or, according toThompson (1959), apreglottalizedvoiced alveolar stop (/ʔd/).[7]Z is not included in the Vietnamese alphabet as a letter in its own right.
Many Vietnamese cultural figures spell their family names, pen names, or stage names withDz instead ofD, emphasizing the northern pronunciation. Examples include the songwriterDzoãn Mẫn, the poetHồ Dzếnh, and the television chefNguyễn Dzoãn Cẩm Vân.[8] Other examples includeBùi Dzinh andTrương Đình Dzu.
SomeOverseas Vietnamese residing in English-speaking countries also replaceD withDz in their names. A male namedDũng may spell his nameDzung to avoid being called "dung" in social contexts.[1] Examples of this usage include Vietnamese-AmericansViệt Dzũng andDzung Tran. (Occasionally,D is instead replaced byY to emphasize the Saigonese pronunciation, as withYung Krall.[9])
Dz is represented inUnicode as three separate glyphs within theLatin Extended-B block. It is one of the rare characters that has separate glyphs for each of itsuppercase,title case, andlowercase forms.
| Code | Glyph | Decimal | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| U+01F1 | DZ | DZ | Latin Capital Letter DZ |
| U+01F2 | Dz | Dz | Latin Capital Letter D with Small Letter Z |
| U+01F3 | dz | dz | Latin Small Letter DZ |
The single-character versions are designed for compatibility with Yugoslav encodings supportingRomanization of Macedonian, where this digraph corresponds to the Cyrillic letterЅ.
Additional variants of the Dz digraph are also encoded in Unicode.