Looks like a digraph, but isn't

pterodactyl commented on the list looks-like-a-digraph-but-isn-t

Digraphs are one of the many exceptions to phonetic spelling. I guess that makes these words exceptions to the exceptions?

October 18, 2008

rolig commented on the list looks-like-a-digraph-but-isn-t

Fun list! I would question, however, the inclusion of Thomas, where "Th" is still a digraph (two letters representing one phoneme), just as "ch" is still a digraph in "character". An interesting case is threshold, where "sh" represents "sh + h".

October 20, 2009

pterodactyl commented on the list looks-like-a-digraph-but-isn-t

Huh, good point. I always interpreted the "h" in "Thomas" as a silent letter, which doesn't represent any phoneme in the word, but it could very well be part of a digraph representing /t/. I suppose that, to resolve this question, we'd have to go into the name's etymology.

October 20, 2009

rolig commented on the list looks-like-a-digraph-but-isn-t

My guess would be that it came into English via Latin, which took it from Greek (Θωμᾶς), though orginally it's an Aramaic name meaning "twin". In any case, that "h" was part of a digraph representing the Greek letter theta.

October 20, 2009

pterodactyl commented on the list looks-like-a-digraph-but-isn-t

Oh, now I understand! Theta doesn't represent /θ/, it represents an aspirated /t/... so the "Th" in "Thomas" also represents an aspirated /t/... but English doesn't distinguish between aspirated and non-aspirated consonants, so we pronounce it with a standard English /t/ (which probably gets aspirated anyway, because it's word-initial).

Fascinating. Thanks, rolig!

October 21, 2009

milosrdenstvi commented on the list looks-like-a-digraph-but-isn-t

hothead; lunkhead; upheaval, packhorse

October 21, 2009

pterodactyl commented on the list looks-like-a-digraph-but-isn-t

Milos, I'm with you on hothead and upheaval, but you've lost me with lunkhead and packhorse. Is kh a digraph?

October 21, 2009

bilby commented on the list looks-like-a-digraph-but-isn-t

Single character in Arabic.

October 21, 2009

rolig commented on the list looks-like-a-digraph-but-isn-t

In English, kh is a digraph in khan, Kharkov, and Khrushchev, where it conventionally represents the voiceless velar fricative /x/ in other languages, though in English it is usually pronounced as the voiceless velar plosive /k/.

October 21, 2009

pterodactyl commented on the list looks-like-a-digraph-but-isn-t

Oh, I see. Yeah, that makes sense.

I'm opening up the list to anyone. Dive right in!

October 21, 2009

madmouth commented on the list looks-like-a-digraph-but-isn-t

in Hindi the 'kh' also stands--ostensibly--for the aspirated k, though one does hear it realized as the velar fricative quite often.

October 21, 2009

rolig commented on the list looks-like-a-digraph-but-isn-t

Btw, I once had a brilliant professor who was Czech. He generally spoke excellent English, but in one lecture at least he kept referring th "haffazard" events (with the stress on the third syllable). I should perhaps have quietly informed him of the correct pronunciation after the lecture, but it was so cute I wanted to start saying it myself.

October 22, 2009