IJ (digraph)

This article is about the ligature. For the bay near Amsterdam, see IJ (bay).

The words “ijsvrij” and “yoghurt” in various forms of handwriting.

The IJ (lowercase ij) is the ligature of the letters i and j.

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 [eɪ] or [ɛɪ].

In standard Dutch, and most of the Dutch dialects, their are two possible spellings for the diphthong [eɪ] or [ɛɪ]: ij and ei. To distinguish between the two, the ij is referred to as the lange ij (‛long ij’) in the Dutch language, 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 identical (at least in standard pronounciation).

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’) or ‛I-grec’ (the latter from French, but with the stress on grec). 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 [i:] sound, the which it still represents in several Dutch and Flemish dialects. At that time, the ‛i’ was written without a dot in handwriting, and so the combination ‛ıı’ was often confused with the ‛u’, and therefore the second ‛i’ was elongated.

Another theory is that it may have arisen from lowercase ‛y’ being split into its two strokes in handwriting. At some time in the 15th or 16th century, this began to be spelt as a ligature ij. The sound was variably also spelt y, and still is in the Afrikaans language, which split from 16th century Dutch, and in many Alemannic dialects where it stands for [i:]. Some time after that 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 spelt the same. Today ij in most cases represents the diphthong [eɪ] or [ɛɪ], except in the suffix -lijk, where it is usually pronounced as a schwa. In one special case, the Dutch word bijzonder, the (old) sound [i:] is correct standard pronouncation, although [eɪ] is also allowed.

Status

Whether IJ constitutes one or two letters, is a matter of discussion.

In the Netherlands, IJ is often thought to be one letter.

• When a word starting with IJ is capitalised, the entire ligature is capitalised: IJsland, IJmuiden.
• The letter IJ is in Unicode as a ligature.
• The Winkler Prins encyclopedia notes that most of the Dutch native speakers consider IJ to be the 25th letter of the Dutch alphabet, together with the Y.

In Flanders, IJ is usually thought to be two letters.

• Other lettercombinations, such as ou, au, eu, ui, are not considered one letter either. Even ligatures, such are the French œ, are usually considered to constitute two letters. The sound [eɪ] or [ɛɪ] can be written as ij or ei, both of which have two letters.
• The alphabet has 26 letters, the 25th of which is Y, which is different from IJ.
• The authorative Dutch dictionary Van Dale Groot Woordenboek van de Nederlandse Taal states that it is a misunderstanding to put the ‛y’ on par with ‛ij’, as happens a lot in alphabetical orderings (and in alphabetical name lists this may be justifiable on practical grounds): the ‛ij’ should be considered ‛i’ + ‛j’.
• Also the Taalunie, the only official body regulating the Dutch language in the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname, does not recognise the letter ij either. However, it does prescribe the both letters to be capitalised together.

Usage

Capitalisation

When a word starting with IJ is capitalised, the entire ligature is capitalised: IJsland, IJmuiden.

On rare occasions, especially in Flanders, this rule is not followed, resulting in spellings like Ijsland. This is however not standard usage, and incorrect in standard Dutch. 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. 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 'ie'. 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. The Winkler Prins encyclopedia follows the same ordering as the Dutch dictionaries.

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 not-rotated letters, IJ is usually kept together.

B
A
K
K
E
R
IJ

Spelling

Vrijdag can be spelled out in two ways, depending on whether the speller considers ij to be one letter or not:

• V – R – IJ – D – A – G
• V – R – I – J – D – A – G

Word games

In most crossword puzzles, and in the Dutch crossword puzzles, Scrabble and Lingo, IJ is considered 1 letter, filling 1 square, but the IJ and the Y are considered distinct. In other word games, rules may vary.

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.)

Technical details

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 usually written as a single sign.

Encoding

The Dutch ij is usually represented as a ligature of I and J. The ligature is not in ASCII or in any of the ISO 8859 character encodings, and therefore the letter is most often written as two separate letters. The ligature does exist in Unicode in the Latin Extended-A range as the character IJ (U+0132) (and its lowercase form ij (U+0133)). These code points are provided for compatibility with legacy systems and their use is discouraged. Using two separate letters is recommended by the European rules for the use of the IJ in public records. 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, the American computer keyboard (QWERTY-US) lay-out is common, in Belgium a specific Belgian one (AZERTY-BE). Neither have a seperate key for ij or IJ.

External links

• Andreas K. Horlings. De lange IJ bestaat niet.
• Michael Everson. Repetoirs of letters used to write the indigenous languages of Europe: Dutch.