What does a digraph consist of?

A digraph consists of a group of letters that combine to create a single sound that is different from the sounds of the individual letters. In the context of English phonetics, this means that when two letters come together to form a digraph, they produce a unique sound that cannot be easily discerned from the sounds of each letter on its own.

For example, the "sh" in "ship" or the "ch" in "chop" illustrates how two letters work together to form a distinct sound. This differs from other linguistic concepts, such as a combination of vowels only or a single letter representing a sound, which do not capture the full definition of a digraph. Furthermore, while some digraphs can include consonants, the essence of a digraph is specifically about the combination of letters producing a new sound, rather than merely blending or being the sounds of the individual letters.