Depending on the way one counts, the
West Frisian alphabet contains between 25 and 32 characters.
Letters
Alphabetical order
In alphabetical listings both I and Y are usually found between H and J. When two words differ only because one has I and the other one has Y (stikje or stykje), the word with I precedes the one with Y.
In handwriting, IJ is written as a single letter (see
IJ (digraph)), whereas in print the string IJ is used. In alphabetical listings IJ is most commonly considered to consist of the two letters I and J, although in dictionaries there is an entry IJ between X and Z telling the user to look browse back to I.
Alternatively, Y and IJ are rarely considered either variants of one letter positioned between X and Z, or two separate letters ordered in the alphabet as X – IJ – Y – Z. Gouden Gids bv has used the latter ordering system in the past for its bilingual (Frisian/Dutch) telephone directory "Nationale telefoongids".
Capital IJ is quite rare. It only shows in the word ijsko (ice-cream) and in some names. Capital C, V and Z are mainly used for English loanwords like cake, virtual reality and ZIP and proper nouns like Chantal, Veldman and Zorro.
Both capital and lower-case C are mainly restricted to the
digraph CH. Proper nouns and English loans are exceptions. Both capital and lower case Q and X are restricted to proper nouns and English loans.
Common digraphs are:
{, class="wikitable"
! Digraph
!
IPA
IPA commonly refers to:
* India pale ale, a style of beer
* International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation
* Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound
IPA may also refer to:
Organizations International
* Insolvency Practitioners ...
! Description
, -
! CH
, style="text-align:center" ,
,
voiceless velar fricative
The voiceless velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It was part of the consonant inventory of Old English and can still be found in some dialects of English, most notably in Scottish English, e.g. in ''loc ...
, -
! NG
, style="text-align:center" ,
,
velar nasal
The voiced velar nasal, also known as agma, from the Greek word for 'fragment', is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It is the sound of ''ng'' in English ''sing'' as well as ''n'' before velar consonants as in ''Englis ...
, -
! SJ
, style="text-align:center" ,
,
palatalised voiceless alveolar sibilant
The voiceless alveolar fricatives are a type of fricative consonant pronounced with the tip or blade of the tongue against the alveolar ridge (gum line) just behind the teeth. This refers to a class of sounds, not a single sound. There are at le ...
, -
! ZJ
, style="text-align:center" , {{IPA,
ʲ}
,
palatalised voiced alveolar sibilant
Diacritics
A, E, U and O may be accompanied by circumflex or acute diacritics, as shown in the table above this article. The accented letters have sound values of their own. In handwriting, diacritics are fairly common though not obligatory on capitals. In print, diacritics are not commonly used on capital letters, and these vowels are normally replaced by their unaccented counterparts.
Letters with diacritics take no independent position in the alphabet. They are listed in the same places as their unaccented counterparts. When words differ only by the diacritics on the letters, the word with the unaccented letter precedes the one with the
circumflex. That one precedes the word with the
acute
Acute may refer to:
Science and technology
* Acute angle
** Acute triangle
** Acute, a leaf shape in the glossary of leaf morphology
* Acute (medicine), a disease that it is of short duration and of recent onset.
** Acute toxicity, the adverse eff ...
. Hence the order: tut, tût, tút.
Proper nouns and loanwords that are originally written in one of the
Latin-script alphabets usually retain their diacritics as far as the keyboard at hand allows for. The same holds for letters not common in the Frisian alphabet.
The diaeresis or trema is used on vowel letters to indicate the onset of a new syllable.
External links
West Frisian spelling (archived)
Latin alphabets