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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 to be a single letter. It usually represents the diphthong .
In standard Dutch, and most 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''.^[1] 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). This causes a lot of confusion for schoolkids, who need to study lists of words with ''ei'' and with ''ij''. In the East- and West-Flemish dialects, the ''ij'' is rather pronouced as a long ''i''. Schoolkids in these areas have less trouble spelling correcty.
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, the ''Y'' replaces the ''IJ''.

Contents

History

Status

Official status

Netherlands

Flanders

Usage

Capitalisation

Sorting

Abbreviations

Wide inter-letter spacing

Spelling

Radio alphabet

Word games

Trivia

Technical details

Print and handwriting

Braille

Encoding

Keyboards

Exceptions

Notes

References

External links

History

''IJ'' probably developed out of ''ii'', representing a long sound (which it still does in some occasions, such as in the word ''bijzonder'' and in several Dutch dialects). 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 pronuncation, although is also allowed.

Status

The ''IJ'' is not only confusing to foreigners but a source of discussion among speakers of the Dutch language as well, since the actual usage in the Netherlands and Flanders sometimes differs from the official recommendations.

Official status

The smaller ''Van Dale Handwoordenboek Hedendaags Nederlands'' (descriptive) dictionary states that ''ij'' is a ''letter sign'', consisting of two ''i''’s, with the second elongated.^[2] Both the Dutch Language Union and the Genootschap Onze Taal consider the ''ij'' to be a digraph of the letters ''i'' and ''j''.

Netherlands

In the Netherlands, ''IJ'' is often held to be one letter:

★ In Dutch primary schools 'ij' is taught as being the 25th of the alphabet. Later the 'y' is introduced as being a letter used in foreign words like 'baby'.

★ In the Netherlands, when a word starting with ''IJ'' is capitalised, the entire digraph is capitalised: IJ'', ''IJsselmeer'', ''IJmuiden''.

★ On old-fashioned typewriters there is/was one key that produced 'ij' (in a single letterspace). However, this is not the case on computer keyboards.

★ In word puzzles it fills 1 square.

★ The Winkler Prins encyclopedia states that ''ij'' is the 25th letter of the Dutch alphabet, together with the ''Y''.

Flanders

". Note the name "g ij s".]]
In Flanders, ''IJ'' is usually thought to be two letters:

★ In Flemish primary schools ''IJ'' is taught as consisting of two letters.

★ In Belgium, sometimes only the ''I'' is capitalized: ''Ijzer'', ''Ijzeren Rijn''. However, this practice is uncommon and capitalisation of the entire digraph is the norm.

★ Other letter combinations, such as ''ou'', ''au'', ''eu'', ''ui'', are not considered one letter either. Even ligatures, such as the French ''œ'', are usually considered as two letters. The sound or can occur in words as ''ij'' or ''ei'', both of which have two letters.

Usage

Capitalisation

When a Dutch word starting with ''IJ'' is capitalised, the entire digraph is capitalised: ''IJsselmeer'', ''IJmuiden''.^[3]
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.

Sorting

Dictionaries since 1850 invariably sort ''ij'' as an ''i'' followed by a ''j'', i.e. between ''ih'' and ''ik''. Encyclopedias, like ''Winkler Prins'', also follow this ordering. This is the preferred sorting by the Taalunie.^[4]
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, between ''x'' and ''z''. 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, in the Netherlands a Dutch word or name starting with ''IJ'' is abbreviated to ''IJ''. For example, ''IJsbrand Eises Ypma'' is shortened to ''IJ. E. Ypma''^[5] In Belgium, one would abbreviate this as ''I. E. Ypma''. Note that first names such as ''Christiaan'' and ''Theo'' are usually abbreviated as ''Ch.'' and ''Th.''

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, but not always, kept together.

''F'' ''r'' ''a'' ''n'' ''k'' ''r'' ''ij'' ''k''

or:

''F'' ''r'' ''a'' ''n'' ''k'' ''r'' ''i'' ''j'' ''k''

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''

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 is three. The Flemish version never had ''IJ'' tiles. The Dutch version is now in line with the Flemish one.^[6]
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.)

Trivia

The Dutch football team of Feyenoord changed its name from the original "Feijenoord" to "Feyenoord" after achieving some international successes. This was done as a reaction to foreign people mispronouncing the name. The Feijenoord district in Rotterdam where the team is from still writes its name using the original ''ij''. The names of footballplayers Johan Cruijff and Ruud van Nistelrooij are often written as ''Johan Cruyff'' and ''Ruud van Nistelrooy'' (van Nistelrooij has never played in the Feyenoord team, by the way).

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'', ''ij'' and ''Y'', ''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.
On some road signs in the Netherlands, IJ appears as a single glyph formed like a U with a break in the left-hand stroke.

Braille

In Dutch Braille the IJ is represented by ⠽, which represents a Y in standard Braille. The Y is written as ⠠⠽.^[7]

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).^[8] These characters are considered compatibility decomposable characters. They are included for compatibility and round-trip convertibility with legacy encodings. Their use is discouraged.^[9] So even with Unicode available, it is recommended to encode ''ij'' as a two separate letters.^[5][11]
HTML contains the codes IJ (IJ) and ij (ij).
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 layout (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''.

Exceptions

If the ''i'' and the ''j'' belong to different syllables, such as in the mathematical term ''bijectie'' (syllables ''bi-jec-tie''), they are not considered to form 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'' or ''byous'' are for sale according to the signs, instead of ''bijoux'' (jewels)^[12]. There is 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.

Notes

1. Woordenlijst Nederlandse Taal. p. 22-23
2. Handwoordenboek Hedendaags Nederlands
3. Taalunie. Taaladvies ''Ijsland / IJsland''
4. Taalunie. Taaladvies ''IJ - alfabetiseren''
5. ''European rules for the use of the IJ in public records''
6. ''Dutch Scrabble''
7. Kim Bols. Het brailleschrift.
8. Unicode code charts. Range 0100–017F: Latin Extended-A
9. Unicode. ''The Unicode standard'', Version 4.0. 2003. Chapter 3, p. 71–72.
10. ''European rules for the use of the IJ in public records''
11. SIL international. ''Unicode two and three Latin letter combinations''
12. Pemberton

References

★ Nicoline van der Sijs. ''Taal als mensenwerk: De geschiedenis van het ABN''. Sdu Uitgevers. ISBN 9789012105873.

★ . ''Groot Woordenboek van de Nederlandse Taal''. XIVth edition. 2005.

★ Van Dale. ''Handwoordenboek Hedendaags Nederlands''. "IJ". 2005.

★ Taalunie. ''Woordenlijst Nederlandse Taal'' (het Groene Boekje). 2005.

★ Taalunie. "Ijsland / IJsland"

★ Taalunie. "IJ - alfabetiseren"

★ . "Lange ij (oorsprong)".

★ Genootschap Onze Taal. "IJ, plaats in het alfabet".

★ Grote Winkler Prins Encyclopedie. "IJ [alfabet]". 9th edition. 1993.

★ ''European rules for the use of the IJ in public records''.

★ Michael Everson. ''Repertoires of letters used to write the indigenous languages of Europe: Dutch''.

★ Leendert Brouwers. Meertens Instituur. ''Nederlandse Familienamen Databank''. "ij-y"

External links

★ Steven Pemberton. ''An Englishman's Difficulties with the Dutch''.

★ Andreas K. Horlings. ''De lange IJ bestaat niet''.

★ R. Harmsen. ''The Dutch "letter" IJ''.

★ Peter Kleiweg. ''De ij is een letter''.