The word digraph comes from the greek (di = two and fork = write) and occurs when two letters are used to represent a single phoneme. In the Portuguese language, there is a relevant number of digraphs and, therefore, they are grouped into two types: the consonant digraphs (11) and the vowel digraphs (10).
consonant digraphs
ch - ax, China, rain.
lh – island, corn, garlic.
nh – nest, dream, chicken.
rr – rice, car, unreal.
ss – bird, roast, like that.
sc – descending, being born, growing up.
ses – grow, I'm born, I come down.
xc - exception, excellent, except.
xs - exude, exude.
gu – eagle, sloth, guido.
what – that kilo of cheese.
Comments:
1) The letters gu and what are considered as digraphs only when followed by vowels 'and' or 'i', representing the phonemes /g/ and /k/, as in guaxis, whatilo. In this case, the letter 'u' does not represent any phoneme.
2) At syllabic division, some consonant digraphs separate and others do not, namely:
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*They are separated in the syllabic division:
rr – car
ss – bird
sc – rise
ses – I'm born
xc - exception
xs - exude
*They are not separated in the syllabic division:
ch - rain
lh – Island
nh – nest
gu – geisha
wh - wanted it
vowel digraphs
Vowel digraphs are those whose vowels are followed by the consonants 'n' or 'm', representing nasalized vowel phonemes, that is, the air currents that leave the lungs pass through the nose and through the mouth. See some examples below:
am – çamdust, amstop.
an - santhat, antena.
in - sinpre, tinbut.
in - tenI am, entra.
im – thereimwow wimbread.
in - tintwirlinto.
om – romgood, ombro
on - tonOK, onhas.
a -abigo, noa.
un – sunga, Dunga.
By Ma. Luciana Kuchenbecker Araújo
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
ARAúJO, Luciana Kuchenbecker. "What is a digraph?"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/o-que-e/portugues/o-que-digrafo.htm. Accessed on June 29, 2021.
