Diacreetic

A diacreetic is a for ordinar a wee merk eikit tae a letter o the aw-bay-sae. The wird comes frae frae the Greek διακριτικός (diakritikós, "disteenguishin"). Some diacreetical merks, sich as the grave an acute, but no the cedeela, is aften cried accents. Diacreetical merks for ordinar kythes abuin or ablo a letter.

The main uiss o diacreetics in the Laitin aw-bay-sae is tae chynge the soond vailyie o the letter that thay're eikit tae.

Amang the kynds o diacreetic merks is:

• accent merks (cried siclike acause the acute, the grave an the circumflex accent wis oreeginally uised for tae shaw sindry kynds o pitch accents, in the polytonic orthography o the Greek
  • ( ´ ) acute accent (Laitin apex)
  • ( ˋ ) grave accent
  • ( ˆ ) circumflex accent
  • ( ˇ ) caron, cowpit circumflex, (Czech háček, Slovak mäkčeň, Slovene strešica, Lakota ičášleče)
  • ( ˝ ) dooble acute accent
  • (  ̏ ) dooble grave accent
• dots
  • ( ˙ ), (. ) Dot (Indic anusvara)
  • ( · ) Interpunct
  • tittle, the dot usied bi defaut in the modren wee form o the Laitin letters "i" an "j"
  • ( ¨ ) trema, diaeresis, or umlaut sign
  • ( ː ) colon, uised in the Internaitional Phonetic Alphabet for tae shaw vouel lenth.
• ( ˚ ) ring(Swadish kål, Czech kroužek as in 'kůl')
• macron or line
  • ( ¯ ) macron (Hawaiian kahakō)
  • ( ˍ ) souderin macron ablo
• owerlays
  • ( | ) baur throu the basic letter
  • ( / ) sleesh throu the basic letter
  • ( – ) straike throu the basic letter
• bowes
  • ( ˘ ) breve
  • siceelicus, a palaeographic diacreetic seemilar tae a caron or breve
  • ( ˜ ) tilde
  • (  ҃ ) titlo
• curls abuin
  • ( ’ ) apostrophe
  • (  ̉ ) heuk (Vietnamese dấu hỏi)
  • (  ̛ ) horn (Vietnamese dấu móc)
• curls abo
  • ( , ) comma
  • ( ¸ ) cedeela
  • ( ˛ ) ogonek

Diacreetics in Scots

Scots an Inglis for ordinar disna uise diacreetics but thay are whiles uised in lend-wirds sic as the cedeela in façade shawin that it's soondit /s/ raither nor /k/; the diaeresis in coöperate that shaws that the twa vouels is soondit apairt; an the acute an grave 'accents,' that shaws that a final vouel is soundit, as in saké, tho mair aften than no, thae wirds is written 'ithoot diacreetics an naebody is ony the waur for it.

Some writers haes uised diacreetics in Scots. Ane o the first wis R. L. Stevenson that cannily uised <ü> for vouel 7 for ordinar written <ui>, ance <u-e> afore nasals. <ü>, alang wi <ø> for thon soond haes been uised bi Shetland dialect writers for tae gie the written wird a mair Scandinavie leuk. Stevenson himsel merkit in Underwoods that for tae pruive he belangs his age an can haud his ain wi reformers, haein no 'ithoot pride, eikit a new stummlin-block for Inglis readers an gien the prent page o his mither tongue a new uncouthness. (Stevenson 1905: 152–153)

William Laughton Lorimer, in his New Testament (1985) uised diacreetics as a guidal tae soondin Scots for thaim unfameeliar wi't, an no necessarily as a orthographic innovation. Lorimer uised a acute accent abuin <i> or <y> for tae shaw a vouel 2 /i/ soondin, tradeetionally written <ee> , in Laitinate wirds sic as hýpocríte, mínister, peredítion, petítion, pítie an spírit raither nor writin heepocrite, meenister, peredeetion, peteetion, peety an speerit, an in ither wirds sic as kíng, lívin, síck, stír an wísdom raither nor writin keeng, leevin, seek, steer an weesdom.

Forby thon, Lorimer uised acute accent in some wirds whaur a spellin 'ithoot it wad likely shaw the /i/ soondin onywey, sic as in belíeve, bíeld, chíel, fíeld, píece an príest. The uiss in the likes o gíe wis aiblins tae shaw it didna rhyme wi pie (the thingmies that can be etten). Baith a grave accent an a circumflex abuin <a> wis uised for tae shaw the stresst vouel 12 soondin. Haein <à> in wirds sic as awà an avà an a circumflex abuin <a>, in wirds sic as contermâcious, creâtor, generâtion nâtion, supplicâtion but no in sautan whaur he follaed the tradeetional convention o <au> ineetial an medial, an <aw> wird-ruit final.

Philip Robinson, whan makkin on Ulster Scots wis a leed in its ain richt in his Ulster–Scots. A Grammar of the the Traditional Written and Spoken Language (1997), slung a deify tae tradeetion an haed a mair complicate uiss o accents, uisin a grave accent for tae shaw the quality o a foregaun consonant. Forby thon he uised <ä> for tae shaw ae Ulster soondin /æ̈/ o <i> (vouel 15) afore vyceless soonds or clusters that conteens thaim. Robinson didna follae it richt throu tho an haed bäg an pän raither nor big an pin but biggin an yin (ane), aiblins acause the latter twa differs frae Inglis onywey.