Dot (diacritic)

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◌̇  ◌̣
Dot
  • U+0307 ◌̇ COMBINING DOT ABOVE
  • U+0323 ◌̣ COMBINING DOT BELOW

When used as a diacritic mark, the term dot refers to the glyphs "combining dot above" (◌̇), and "combining dot below" (◌̣) which may be combined with some letters of the extended Latin alphabets in use in a variety of languages. Similar marks are used with other scripts.

Overdot[edit]

Language scripts or transcription schemes that use the dot above a letter as a diacritical mark:

In mathematics and physics, when using Newton's notation the dot denotes the time derivative as in . In addition, the overdot is one way used to indicate an infinitely repeating set of numbers in decimal notation, as in , which is equal to the fraction 13, and or , which is equal to 17.

Underdot[edit]

  • In a number of languages, an underdot indicates a raised or relatively high vowel, often the counterpart of a lower vowel marked with an ogonek or left unmarked.
    • In Rotuman, represents /ɔ/.
    • In Romagnol, ẹ ọ are used to represent [e, o], e.g. part of Riminese dialect fradẹll, ọcc [fraˈdell, ˈotʃː] "brothers, eyes".
    • In academic notation of Old Latin, ẹ̄ (e with underdot and macron) represents the long vowel, probably //, that developed from the early Old Latin diphthong ei. This vowel usually became ī in Classical Latin.
    • In academic transcription of Vulgar Latin, used in describing the development of the Romance languages, ẹ and ọ represent the close-mid vowels /e/ and /o/, in contrast with the open-mid vowels /ɛ/ and /ɔ/, which are represented as e and o with ogonek (ę ǫ).
    • Academic transcription of Middle English uses the same conventions as Vulgar Latin above.
    • In academic transcription of Serbo-Croatian dialects, ẹ ọ ạ (typically /e/ /o/ /ɐ/) represent higher vowels than standard e o a, and the first two often contrast with lower vowels marked with a comma below, e̦ o̦ (typically /ɛ/ /ɔ/).
  • In Inari Sami, an underdot denotes a half-long voiced consonant: đ̣, j̣, ḷ, ṃ, ṇ, ṇj, ŋ̣, ṛ, and ṿ. The underdot is used in dictionaries, textbooks, and linguistic publications only.
  • In IAST and National Library at Calcutta romanization, transcribing languages of India, a dot below a letter distinguishes the retroflex consonants ṭ, ḍ, ṛ, ḷ, ṇ, ṣ, while m with underdot () signifies an anusvara and h with underdot () signifies a visarga. Very frequently (in modern transliterations of Sanskrit) an underdot is used instead of the ring (diacritic) below the vocalic r and l.
  • In romanizations of some Afroasiatic languages, particularly Semitic Languages and Berber Languages, an underdot indicates an emphatic consonant. The romanization of Arabic uses ḍ ḥ ṣ ṭ ẓ.
  • In the DIN 31636 and ALA-LC Romanization of Hebrew, ṿ represents vav (ו), while v without the underdot represents beth (ב). represents qoph (ק) while k represents kaph (כ). ḥ represents chet (ח).
  • The underdot is also used in the PDA orthography for Domari to show pharyngealization—the underdotted consonants ḍ ḥ ṣ ṭ ẓ represent the emphaticized sounds /d̪ˤ ħ t̪ˤ zˤ/.
  • In Asturian, ḷḷ (underdotted double ll) represents the voiced retroflex plosive or the voiceless retroflex affricate, depending on dialect, and (underdotted h) the voiceless glottal fricative.
  • In O'odham language, (d with underdot) represents a voiced retroflex stop.
  • Vietnamese: The nặng tone (low, glottal) is represented with a dot below the base vowel: ạ ặ ậ ẹ ệ ị ọ ộ ợ ụ ự ỵ.
  • In Igbo, an underdot can be used on i, o, and u to make , , and . The underdot symbolizes a reduction in the vowel height.
  • In Yoruba, an underdot can be used on e and o to make and , symbolizing a reduction in the vowel height, as well as on s to make , symbolizing a postalveolar articulation.
  • In Americanist phonetic notation, x with underdot represents a voiceless uvular fricative.
  • Underdots are used in the Rheinische Dokumenta phonetic writing system to denote a voiced s and special pronunciations of r and a.
  • In the Fiero-Rhodes orthography for Eastern Ojibwe and Odaawaa, in , , and , underdot is used to indicate labialization when either ⟨o⟩ or ⟨w⟩ following them was lost in syncope.
  • The Sicilian nexus ḍḍ is used to represent [ɖɖ].
  • In Kalabari, and are used.
  • In Marshallese, underdots on consonants represent velarization, such as the velarized bilabial nasal .
  • UNGEGN romanization of Urdu includes ḍ, g̣, ḳ, ṭ, ẉ, and .[1]
  • In Mizo, represents /t͡r/.
  • The underdot is also used in the Devanagari script, where it is called nukta.

Raised dot and middle dot [edit]

  • In Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics, in addition to the middle dot as a letter, centred dot diacritic, and dot above diacritic, there also is a two-dot diacritic in the Naskapi language representing /_w_V/ which depending on the placement on the specific Syllabic letter may resemble a colon when placed vertically, diaeresis when placed horizontally, or a combination of middle dot and dot above diacritic when placed either at an angle or enveloping a small raised letter . Additionally, in Northwestern Ojibwe, a small raised /wi/ as /w/, the middle dot is raised farther up as either or ; there also is a raised dot "Final" (), which represents /w/ in some Swampy Cree and /y/ in some Northwestern Ojibwe.

Letters with dot[edit]

Encoding[edit]

In Unicode, the dot is encoded at:

  • U+0307 ◌̇ COMBINING DOT ABOVE

and at:

  • U+0323 ◌̣ COMBINING DOT BELOW
  • U+0358 ◌͘ COMBINING DOT ABOVE RIGHT
  • U+1DF8 ◌᷸ COMBINING DOT ABOVE LEFT

There is also:

  • U+02D9 ˙ DOT ABOVE (˙, ˙)
  • U+18DF CANADIAN SYLLABICS FINAL RAISED DOT

Pre-composed characters:

See also[edit]

  • Anunaasika – Diacritic in Indic scripts
  • Chandrabindu – Diacritic mark typically denoting nazalization, in Indian abugidas
  • Interpunct – Typographical symbol, variously used as word delimiter, currency decimal delimiter, etc. (·)
  • Tittle – Diacritical mark, the dot element of the letters i and j
  • Two dots (diacritic) – Diacritic that consists of two dots placed over a letter

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (2007). Technical reference manual for the standardization of geographical names (PDF). New York: United Nations. p. 169. ISBN 978-92-1-161500-5.

External links[edit]