diacritical marks
Symbols modifying letters
Diacritical marks are symbols added to letters to indicate pronunciation, stress, or distinguish meaning: the accent in *café*, the umlaut in *naïve*, the tilde in *señor*.
English uses them mainly in borrowed words, though they often drop away as words naturalize.
Also called diacritics.
Regional speech pattern
- acuteIntensely severe or perceptive
- graveSerious and worrying
- circumflexPeaked accent mark
- tildeWavy diacritical mark
umlaut · cedilla · breve · diaeresis · hook · dot · ring · stroke
Of or from Paris's nation
- GermanCentral European language
- SpanishLanguage of Iberia
- PortugueseOf a western Iberian nation
- VietnameseOf Southeast Asian nation
Polish · Czech · Turkish · Pinyin · romanization · transliteration · loanword · Scandinavian
Manner of speaking words
- phonemeMinimal distinctive sound unit
- nasalizationSound routed through nostrils
- toneQuality of sound
- stressPressure, mental or vocal
aspiration · voicing · articulation · segmental · allophone · phonological · transcription
Visual form of character
- fontCharacter style set
- typefaceLettering style design
- characterNature, symbol, or role
- encodingConverting data to format
typesetting · rendering · display · kerning · baseline · ascender · descender · composing
Recognize as distinct
- indicateSignal or point to
- modifyChange partially
- clarifyMake something understandable
- differentiateIdentify differences between things
mark · denote · signal · represent · specify · pronunciation guide · etymological
accent
Regional speech pattern
- acuteIntensely severe or perceptive
- graveSerious and worrying
- circumflexPeaked accent mark
tilde · umlaut · cedilla · breve · diaeresis · hook · dot · ring · stroke · horn
French
Of or from Paris's nation
- GermanCentral European language
- SpanishLanguage of Iberia
- PortugueseOf a western Iberian nation
Vietnamese · Polish · Czech · Turkish · Pinyin · romanization · transliteration · loanword · Scandinavian · Hungarian
pronunciation
Manner of speaking words
- phonemeMinimal distinctive sound unit
- nasalizationSound routed through nostrils
- toneQuality of sound
stress · aspiration · voicing · articulation · segmental · allophone · phonological · transcription
glyph
Visual form of character
encoding · typesetting · rendering · display · kerning · baseline · ascender · descender · composing · precomposed
distinguish
Recognize as distinct
differentiate · mark · denote · signal · represent · specify · pronunciation guide · etymological