Digraphia

High school (ages 12+)
People & Society

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/digraphia

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the synchronic digraphia example?Hindustani: Hindi in Devanagari script, Urdu in Perso-Arabic script, used concurrently
2. What is the diachronic digraphia example?Turkish: Transition from an Arabic-derived script to a Latin-based script in 1928
3. How is digraphia different from diglossia?Digraphia is about writing systems, while diglossia is about using two different spoken styles of the same language.
4. Can you give an example of synchronic digraphia?In India, the language Hindustani is spoken by millions, but it can be written in Devanagari for Hindi or in Perso‑Arabic for Urdu. Both written forms are different, even though the spoken language is the same.

Digraphia: The sociolinguistic phenomenon of a language employing multiple distinct writing systems.
Orthography: The conventional spelling system of a language, including its rules and principles.
Synchronic Digraphia: The simultaneous use of two or more writing systems for the same language.
Diachronic Digraphia: The historical process of one writing system being replaced by another for a language.