Digraphia

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Digraphia refers to the use of more than one writing system for the same language. Digraphia can be synchronic, meaning that these writing systems are used at the same time for the same language, or diachronic, meaning that the writing system used has changed over time, one writing system succeeding another over time.

Synchronic digraphia

The best example of synchronic digraphia is Serbian. The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet and an adapted Latin alphabet are both widely used in Serbia in a large variety of contexts and most Serbian speakers are able to read and write in both.

Some authorities consider Japanese to be a case of synchronic digraphia, as it has three different scripts. Other authorities disagree, however, pointing out that all three scripts are part of the same writing system, and have a defined role to play within that system. It is not always easily achieved writing an entire text in three different versions, one in each script. In Serbian this is always possible.

An element of synchronic digraphia is present in many languages not using the Latin script, in particular in text messages and when typing on a computer which does have the facility to represent the usual script for that language. In such cases, Latin script is often used, although systems of transcription are often not standardised.

Many writers, both from China and from abroad (e.g. John DeFrancis) have argued for digraphia to be implemented as a standard for the Chinese language. This is because the current Chinese writing system is hard to learn, and has a huge number of symbols compared to alphabetic systems.

Diachronic digraphia

There are many examples where a language used to be written in a script, that was replaced later. Examples are Romanian (which originally used Cyrillic then changed to Latin); Turkish (Arabic then Latin), and many languages of former Soviet Central Asia, which abandoned the Cyrillic script after the dissolution of the USSR.