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The IJ (lowercase ij) is the digraph of the letters i and j. It is often described as a ligature, although in most fonts the two composing characters are not connected, but sometimes slightly kerned together. In the Dutch language, it is sometimes considered be to be a single letter: together with the Y the 25th letter of the Dutch alphabet. It usually represents the diphthong . In standard Dutch, and most of the Dutch dialects, there are two possible spellings for the diphthong or : ij and ei. To distinguish between the two, the ij is referred to as the lange ij (‛long ij’), the ei as korte ei (‛short ei’) or simply E – I. The long name is because of the form extending below the baseline, not because of its sound, as both sounds are pronounced identically (at least in standard pronunciation). The IJ is different from the letter "Y". In Dutch Y only occurs in loanwords or in (variantly spelled) old Dutch. ‛Y’ is called ‛Griekse IJ’ (‛Greek Y’), ‛I-grec’ (the latter from French, but with the stress on grec) or ‛Ypsilon’. However, in Afrikaans, a South African language derived from Dutch, the Y replaces the IJ.
History IJ probably developed out of ii, representing a long sound (which it still does in some occasions). In the middle ages, the i was written without a dot in handwriting, and the combination ıı was often confused with u. Therefore, the second i was elongated. Later, the dots were added (albeit not in Afrikaans, a language that has its roots in Dutch. In this language the y is used instead). Another theory is that it may have arisen from lowercase y being split into two strokes in handwriting. At some time in the 15th or 16th century, this began to be spelled as a ligature ij. Contradicting this theory is the fact that even in handwritings which do not join letters, ij is often written as a single sign. Some time after the birth of the new letter, the sound which was now represented by ij in most cases began to be pronounced much like ei instead, but words containing it were still spelled the same. Today ij in most cases represents the diphthong or , except in the suffix -lijk, where it is usually pronounced as a schwa. In one special case, the Dutch word bijzonder, the (old) sound is correct standard pronouncation, although is also allowed. Status Whether IJ constitutes one or two letters in Dutch, is a matter of discussion. In the Netherlands, IJ is often thought to be one letter. In Flanders, IJ is usually thought to be two letters. Capitalisation When a Dutch word starting with IJ is capitalised, the entire digraph is capitalised: IJsselmeer, IJmuiden. In Flanders, this rule is not followed as strictly, resulting sometimes in spellings like Ijzer. Although this is not standard usage, one can sometimes even find this type of capitalisation on official road signs in Flanders. Sometimes the double capital causes problems with automatic spelling checkers. Sorting Dictionaries have invariably been sorting ij as an i followed by a j since 1850, i.e. between ih and ik. Encyclopedias, like Winkler Prins, follow this ordering as well. This is the preferred sorting by the Taalunie. On the other hand, telephone directories in the Netherlands (but not those in Belgium) sort ij and y together, as if they are the same. This is because many surnames have nonstandard spellings: Bruijn may also be spelled Bruyn, and thanks to this sorting they can be found next to each other. This also helps with Frisian names (such as Fryslân) which contain a y but are often spelled with an ij and pronounced as . Of course this sorting is not perfect, as the name Bruin would still not be sorted along with the other variants. But of course in dictionary order Bruyn would be orphaned instead. Abbreviations When words or (first) names are shortened to their initials, a Dutch word or name starting with IJ is abbreviated to IJ. For example, IJsbrand Eises Ypma is shortened to IJ. E. Ypma. Wide inter-letter spacing When words are written with large inter-letter spacing, IJ is often, but not always, kept together. F r a n k r ij k or F r a n k r i j k. When words are written from top to bottom, with non-rotated letters, IJ is usually kept together. F r a n k r ij k Spelling Vrijdag can be spelled out in two ways, depending on whether the speller considers ij to be one letter or not: Radio alphabet In the Dutch radio alphabet, the codeword IJmuiden represents the IJ. This is clearly different from the codeword Ypsilon, which is used to represent the Y. Word games In most crossword puzzles, and in Lingo, IJ is considered one letter, filling one square, but the IJ and the Y are considered distinct. In other word games, rules may vary. Until March 1998, the Dutch version of Scrabble had two tiles IJ, with face value 4, in addition to the single tile Y with face value 8. The recent Dutch version has abolished the IJ; the word rij formerly was two letters, but now it's three. The Flemish version never had IJ tiles. The Dutch version is now in line with the Flemish one. In word games which make distinction between vowels and consonants, IJ is considered a vowel if it is considered one letter. (Whether Y is a vowel or a consonant, is another matter of discussion, as Y can both represent a vowel or a (half-)consonant sound in loanwords.) Print and handwriting In print ÿ (lowercase y with diaeresis) and ij look very different, but in the handwriting of most Dutch speakers ÿ and ij are identical. Fortunately, since the y occurs only in loanwords, the ÿ is extremely rare (if not altogether non-existent) in Dutch. The long ij extends below the baseline and is therefore written with a long stroke; even in handwritings which do not join letters, it is often written as a single sign. Encoding The Dutch ij is not in ASCII or in any of the ISO 8859 character encodings, and therefore the digraph is most often encoded as an i followed by a j. The ligature does exist in Unicode in the Latin Extended-A range as the uppercase character IJ (U+0132) and lowercase character ij (U+0133). These characters are considered compatibility decomposable characters. They are included for compatibility and round-trip convertibility with legacy encodings. Their use is discouraged. So even with Unicode available, it is recommended to encode ij as a two separate letters. HTML contains the codes & Sometimes the double capital causes problems with automatic spelling checkers. Keyboards While Dutch typewriters usually have a separate key for lowercase ‛ij’, Belgian typewriters do not. In the Netherlands, a QWERTY computer keyboard lay-out is common. The standard US lay-out (sometimes in 'International Mode') is widely used although a specific Dutch variant (KBD143) is available. In Belgium a specific Belgian variant of AZERTY keyboard lay-out (KBD120) is widely used. None of these keyboards feature a key for ‛ij’ or ‛IJ’. Exception If the ‛i’ and the ‛j’ belong to different syllables, such as in the word the word minijurk (minidress, syllables mi-ni-jurk) and the mathematical term bijectie (syllables bi-jec-tie), they are not considered a ligature or a single letter. Earlier statements about sorting ‛ij’ on par with ‛y’, keeping ‛ij’ together in wide inter-letter spacing, the single square in crossword puzzles, etc. do not apply. In other languages the combination ij can exist, but in foreign words (from Dutch point of view) the ij should not be considered one letter. In the Netherlands, ij in foreign words is sometimes confused with the letter y. In several Dutch shops, byoux of byous are for sale according to the signs, instead of bijoux (jewels). There's also an anecdote of a letter sent from the Netherlands to Dyon in France rather than Dijon. The letter was sent by the postal services to Lyon in France and Nyon in Switzerland after that, and finally returned to sender as undeliverable. | ||||||||
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