This article is about single dot diacritics. For the dot on the letters i and j, seetittle.For the diaeresis and similar-looking diacritics, seetwo dots (diacritic).
This page uses notation for orthographic or other linguistic analysis.For the meaning of how⟨ ⟩,| |,/ /,and[ ]are used here,seethis page.
When used as adiacriticmark, the termdotrefers to theglyphs"combining dot above" (◌̇),and "combining dot below" (◌̣)
which may be combined with somelettersof the extendedLatin Alpha betsin use in
a variety of languages. Similar marks are used with other scripts.
The Latin orthography forChechenincludesċ,ç̇,ġ,q̇,andẋ.
Traditional Irish typography,where the dot denoteslenition,and is called aponc séimhitheorbuailte"dot of lenition":ḃ ċ ḋ ḟ ġ ṁ ṗ ṡ ṫ.Alternatively, lenition may be represented by a following letterh,thus:bh ch dh fh gh mh ph sh th.InOld Irishorthography, the dot was used only forḟ ṡ,while the followinghwas used forch ph th;lenition of other letters was not indicated. Later the two systems spread to the entire set of lenitable consonants and competed with each other. Eventually the standard practice was to use the dot when writing inGaelic scriptand the followinghwhen writing inantiqua.Thusċandchrepresent the same phonetic element in Modern Irish.
Lithuanian:ėis pronounced as[eː],as opposed toę,which is pronounced a lower[æː](formerlynasalised), ore,pronounced[ɛ,æː].
In theCanadian Aboriginal Syllabicsorthography for theCree,Ojibwe,andInuktitutlanguages, a dot above a symbol signifies that the symbol's vowel should be a long vowel—the equivalent effect using the Roman orthography is achieved by doubling the vowel (ᒥ = mi, ᒦ = mii), placing amacronover the vowel (ᑲ = ka, ᑳ = kā), or placing acircumflexover the vowel (ᓄ = no, ᓅ = nô).
InTurkish,the dot above lowercaseiandj(and uppercaseİ) is not regarded as an independent diacritic but as an integral part of the letter. It is called atittle.I without an overdotis a separate letter.
In theRheinische Dokumentaphonetic writing system overdots denote a special pronunciation ofr.
In a number of languages, an underdot indicates araisedorrelatively highvowel, often the counterpart of a lower vowel marked with anogonekor left unmarked.
InRomagnol,ẹ ọare used to represent [e, o], e.g. part of Riminese dialectfradẹll, ọcc[fraˈdell,ˈotʃː]"brothers, eyes".
In academic notation ofOld Latin,ẹ̄(ewith underdot and macron) represents the long vowel, probably/eː/,that developed from the early Old Latin diphthongei.This vowel usually becameīinClassical Latin.
In academic transcription ofVulgar Latin,used in describing the development of theRomance 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 aseandowithogonek(ę ǫ).
Academic transcription ofMiddle Englishuses the same conventions as Vulgar Latin above.
In academic transcription ofSerbo-Croatian dialects,ẹ ọ ạ(typically/e//o//ɐ/) represent higher vowels than standarde o a,and the first two often contrast with lower vowels marked with acomma below,e̦ o̦(typically/ɛ//ɔ/).
InInari Sami,an underdot denotes a half-long voiced consonant:đ̣, j̣, ḷ, ṃ, ṇ, ṇj, ŋ̣, ṛ,andṿ.The underdot is used in dictionaries, textbooks, and linguistic publications only.
In theDIN 31636andALA-LCRomanization of Hebrew,ṿrepresents vav (ו), whilevwithout the underdot represents beth (ב).ḳrepresents qoph (ק) whilekrepresents 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/d̪ˤħsˤt̪ˤzˤ/.
Vietnamese:Thenặngtone(low, glottal) is represented with a dot below the base vowel:ạ ặ ậ ẹ ệ ị ọ ộ ợ ụ ự ỵ.
InIgbo,an underdot can be used oni,o,anduto makeị,ọ,andụ.The underdot symbolizes a reduction in thevowel height.
InYoruba,an underdot can be used oneandoto makeẹandọ,symbolizing a reduction in thevowel height,as well as onsto makeṣ,symbolizing apostalveolararticulation.
Underdots are used in theRheinische Dokumentaphonetic writing system to denote a voicedsand special pronunciations ofranda.
In the Fiero-Rhodes orthography forEastern OjibweandOdaawaa,ing̣,ḥ,andḳ,underdot is used to indicatelabializationwhen either⟨o⟩or⟨w⟩following them was lost insyncope.
InCanadian Aboriginal Syllabics,in addition to themiddle dotas a letter, centred dot diacritic, and dot above diacritic, there also is atwo-dot diacriticin theNaskapi languagerepresenting /_w_V/ which depending on the placement on the specific Syllabic letter may resemble a colon when placed vertically,diaeresiswhen placed horizontally, or a combination of middle dot and dot above diacritic when placed either at an angle or enveloping a small raised letterᓴ.Additionally, inNorthwestern Ojibwe,a small raised /wi/ as /w/, the middle dot is raised farther up as eitherᣜorᣝ;there also is a raised dot"Final"(ᣟ), which represents /w/ in someSwampy Creeand /y/ in some Northwestern Ojibwe.
