A tetragraph (from the el, τετρα-, ''tetra-'', "four" and γράφω, ''gráphō'', "write") is a sequence of four letters used to represent a single sound (phoneme), or a combination of sounds, that do not necessarily correspond to the individual values of the letters.
In German, for example, the tetragraph ''tsch'' represents the sound of the English
digraph ''ch''. English does not have tetragraphs in native words (the closest is perhaps the sequence ''
-ough'' in words like ''through''), but ''chth'' is a true tetragraph when found initially in words of Greek origin such as ''chthonian.''
Phonemes spelled with multiple characters often indicate that either the phoneme or the script is alien to the language. For example, the
Cyrillic
The Cyrillic script ( ), Slavonic script or the Slavic script, is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking co ...
alphabets adapted to the
Caucasian languages, which are phonologically very different from Russian, make extensive use of digraphs, trigraphs, and even a tetragraph in
Kabardian ''
кхъу'' for . The
Romanized Popular Alphabet
The Romanized Popular Alphabet (RPA) or Hmong RPA (also Roman Popular Alphabet), is a system of romanization for the various dialects of the Hmong language. Created in Laos between 1951 and 1953 by a group of missionaries and Hmong advisers, it ha ...
created for the
Hmong language
Hmong / Mong (; RPA: ''Hmoob,'' ; Nyiakeng Puachue: ; Pahawh: , ) is a dialect continuum of the West Hmongic branch of the Hmongic languages spoken by the Hmong people of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Hainan, northern Vietnam, Thailand, ...
s includes three tetragraphs: ''nplh, ntsh,'' and ''ntxh,'' which represent complex consonants.
List of tetragraphs
Latin script
Cyrillic script
In
Cyrillic
The Cyrillic script ( ), Slavonic script or the Slavic script, is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking co ...
used for
languages of the Caucasus
The Caucasian languages comprise a large and extremely varied array of languages spoken by more than ten million people in and around the Caucasus Mountains, which lie between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.
Linguistic comparison allows t ...
, there are tetragraphs as doubled digraphs used for 'strong' consonants (typically transcribed in the IPA as geminate), and also labialized homologues of trigraphs.
is used in
Kabardian for , the labialized homologue of , in turn unpredictably derived from ejective .
is used in
Avar for , the 'strong' homologue of , the ejective () homologue of . It is often substituted with .
is used in Avar for . It is often substituted with .
is used in Avar for . It is often substituted with .
is used in
Archi for
is used in Archi for
is used in Archi for
is used in Archi for
is used in Archi for
is used in Archi for
is used in Archi for
Canadian syllabics
Inuktitut syllabics
Inuktitut syllabics ( iu, ᖃᓂᐅᔮᖅᐸᐃᑦ, qaniujaaqpait, or , ) is an abugida-type writing system used in Canada by the Inuktitut-speaking Inuit of the territory of Nunavut and the Nunavik and Nunatsiavut regions of Quebec and Labrador ...
has a series of trigraphs for ''ŋ'' followed by a vowel. For geminate ''ŋŋ'', these are form tetragraphs with ''n'':
:ᙱ ''ŋŋi'', ᙳ ''ŋŋu'', ᙵ ''ŋŋa''
These are literally ''nnggi, nnggu, nngga''.
See also
*
Digraph (orthography)
A digraph or digram (from the grc, δίς , "double" and , "to write") is a pair of characters used in the orthography of a language to write either a single phoneme (distinct sound), or a sequence of phonemes that does not correspond to ...
*
Trigraph (orthography) A trigraph (from the el, τρεῖς, ''treîs'', "three" and γράφω, ''gráphō'', "write") is a group of three characters used to represent a single sound or a combination of sounds that does not correspond to the written letters combined.
L ...
*
Pentagraph
*
Hexagraph
*
Heptagraph
*
Multigraph (orthography)
A multigraph (or pleongraph) is a sequence of letters that behaves as a unit and is not the sum of its parts, such as English or French . The term is infrequently used, as the number of letters is usually specified:
* Digraph (two letters, as o ...
*
List of Cyrillic letters
*
Unigraph (orthography)
References
{{reflist
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