Quote:
Originally Posted by AnneT
But in Belgium, we still consider it as a compound lettersign, just like (other) diphtongs like ei and aai and ieu. So accordingly, we sort ij and y different.
It's always fun to see how the same language is treated just a little bit different on both sides of the border.
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Treating it as a compound is historically correct, it seems, as it grew from 'ii'. And that's why the Taalunie treats it as such and sorts like you across the border do
. The 'ii' roots are still to be heard in places where it is pronounced 'ie' and not 'ei', like in the place name 'Wijchen', pronounced 'Wiegen', not 'Weigen'. Still, it is different from the other dipthongs in the way it's capitalized, as both I and J must be capitalized; it's 'IJzer', not 'Ijzer'.
Yep, like they say, 'Two nations devided by a common language' (said of the UK and the USA, but Belgium and the Netherlands fit too...)