Dz (digraph)

Dz is a digraph of the Latin script, Polish, Kashubian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Slovak, and Hungarian to represent /d͡z/. In Dene Suline (Chipewyan) and Cantonese Pinyin it represents /t͡s/.

In Polish

dz generally represents [d͡z]. However, when followed by i it is palatalized to [d͡ʑ].

Examples of dz

 dzwon  (bell)
 rodzaj  (kind, type)

Compare dz followed by i:
 dziecko  (child)
 dziewczyna  (girl, girlfriend)

In Slovak

In Slovak, the digraph dz is the ninth letter of the Slovak alphabet. Example words with this phoneme include:

The digraph may never be divided by hyphenation:

However, when d and z come from different morphemes, they are treated as separate letters, and must be divided by hyphenation:

In both cases od- (from) and nad- (above) are a prefix to the stems zem (earth) and zvuk (sound).

In Hungarian

Dz is the seventh letter of the Hungarian alphabet. It is pronounced (using English pronunciation) "dzay" in the alphabet, but just "dz" when spoken in a word. In IPA, it is written as /dz/.

Length

In several words, it is pronounced long, e.g.

In some other ones, short, e.g.

In several verbs ending in -dzik (approx. 50), it can be pronounced either short or long, e.g.

These are verbs where the dz can be replaced by z (and is replaced by some speakers): csókolózik, lopózik, takarózik.

In some of these verbs, there is no free variation: birkózik, mérkőzik (only with z) but leledzik, nyáladzik (only with dz, pronounced long). In some other verbs, there is a difference in meaning: levelez(ik) (correspond with sb.) but leveledzik (to leaf [like a tree]).

It is only doubled in writing when an assimilated suffix is added to the stem: eddze, lopóddzon.

Usage

Usage of this letter is similar to that of Polish and Slovak languages. In Hungarian, even if these two characters are put together to make a different sound, they are considered one letter, and even acronyms keep the letter intact.

Examples

These examples are Hungarian words that contain the letter dz, with the English translation following.

In Esperanto

Some Esperanto grammars, notably Plena Analiza Gramatiko de Esperanto,[1] consider dz to be a digraph for the voiced affricate [d͡z], as in "edzo" "husband". The case for this is "rather weak".[2] Most Esperantists, including Esperantist linguists (Janton,[3] Wells[4]), reject it.

Unicode

DZ is represented in Unicode as three separate glyphs within the Latin Extended-B block. It is one of the rare characters that has separate glyphs for each of its uppercase, title case, and lowercase 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 supporting Romanization of Macedonian, where this digraph corresponds to the Cyrillic letter Ѕ.

Variants

Additional variants of the Dz digraph are also encoded in Unicode.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Kalocsay & Waringhien (1985) Plena analiza gramatiko de Esperanto, §17, 22
  2. ↑ van Oostendorp, Marc (1999). Syllable structure in Esperanto as an instantiation of universal phonology. Esperantologio / Esperanto Studies 1, 52 80. p. 68
  3. ↑ Pierre Janton, Esperanto: Language, Literature, and Community. Translated by Humphrey Tonkin et al. State University of New York Press, 1993. ISBN 0-7914-1254-7.
  4. ↑ J. C. Wells, Lingvistikaj Aspektoj de Esperanto, Universala Esperanto-Asocio, 1978. ISBN 92 9017 021 2.