Double acute accent
Encyclopedia
The double acute accent ( ˝ ) is a diacritic
mark of the Latin script. It is used primarily in written Hungarian
, and consequently is sometimes referred to as Hungarumlaut, a portmanteau of Hungarian umlaut. The signs formed with diacritic marks are letters in their own right in the Hungarian alphabet (for instance, they are separate letters for the purpose of collation).
in the 15th-century Hussite Bible
. Initially, only á and é were marked, since they are different in quality as well as length
. Later í, ó, ú were marked as well.
In the 18th century, before Hungarian orthography became fixed, u and o with umlaut
+ acute
were used in some printed documents. 19th century typographers introduced the double acute as a more aesthetic solution.
has 14 vowels in a symmetrical system: seven short vowels (a
, e
, i
, o
, ö
, u
, ü
) and seven long ones, which are written with an acute accent
in the case of á, é, í, ó, ú, and with the double acute in the case of ő, ű. Vowel length has phonemic significance in Hungarian, that is, it distinguishes different words and grammatical forms.
as a long variant of the short vowel Ä ä (A with diaeresis), representing the vowel /æː/ in some loanword
s. Other long vowels are written with a single acute accent.
The letter is still used for this purpose in Slovak phonetic transcription systems.
in German
and Swedish
, the umlaut
is sometimes written similarly to a double acute.
written in the Cyrillic alphabet
uses a double-acute Ӳ, ӳ
/y/ as an front
counterpart of Cyrillic letter У, у
/u/ (see Chuvash vowel harmony), likely after the analogy of handwriting in Latin script languages. In other minority languages of the Russia
(Khakas
, Mari
, Altai
, and Khanty
), the umlauted form Ӱ
is used instead.
Classical Danish
handwriting uses "ó" for "ø", which becomes a problem when writing Faroese
in the same tradition, as "ó" is a part of the Faroese alphabet. Thus ő is sometimes used for ø in Faroese.
and many other phonetic alphabet
s use two systems to indicate tone: a diacritic system and an adscript system. In the diacritic system, the double acute represents an extra high tone.
One may encounter this use as a tone sign in some IPA-derived orthographies of small languages, such as in the North American Native Tanacross
(Athapascan). In line with the IPA usage it denotes the extra-high tone.
character sets.
, the double acute accent is typeset with the \H{} (mnemonic
for Hungarian) command. For example, the name Paul Erdős (in his native Hungarian: Erdős Pál) would be typeset as
Erd\H{o}s P\'al.
Diacritic
A diacritic is a glyph added to a letter, or basic glyph. The term derives from the Greek διακριτικός . Diacritic is both an adjective and a noun, whereas diacritical is only an adjective. Some diacritical marks, such as the acute and grave are often called accents...
mark of the Latin script. It is used primarily in written Hungarian
Hungarian alphabet
The Hungarian alphabet is an extension of the Latin alphabet used for writing the Hungarian language.One sometimes speaks of the smaller and greater Hungarian alphabets, depending on whether or not the letters Q, W, X, Y are listed, which can only be found in foreign words and traditional...
, and consequently is sometimes referred to as Hungarumlaut, a portmanteau of Hungarian umlaut. The signs formed with diacritic marks are letters in their own right in the Hungarian alphabet (for instance, they are separate letters for the purpose of collation).
History
Length marks first appeared in Hungarian orthographyHungarian alphabet
The Hungarian alphabet is an extension of the Latin alphabet used for writing the Hungarian language.One sometimes speaks of the smaller and greater Hungarian alphabets, depending on whether or not the letters Q, W, X, Y are listed, which can only be found in foreign words and traditional...
in the 15th-century Hussite Bible
Hussite Bible
The Hussite Bible is the oldest known Hungarian, but also Uralic Bible translation, dated to the 1420s–1430s.-History:The Hussite Bible is the only written vestige of Hussitism in Hungary. The book – or at least the most of it – was translated by Tamás Pécsi and Bálint Újlaki...
. Initially, only á and é were marked, since they are different in quality as well as length
Vowel length
In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. Often the chroneme, or the "longness", acts like a consonant, and may etymologically be one, such as in Australian English. While not distinctive in most dialects of English, vowel length is an important phonemic factor in...
. Later í, ó, ú were marked as well.
In the 18th century, before Hungarian orthography became fixed, u and o with umlaut
Umlaut (diacritic)
The diaeresis and the umlaut are diacritics that consist of two dots placed over a letter, most commonly a vowel. When that letter is an i or a j, the diacritic replaces the tittle: ï....
+ acute
Acute accent
The acute accent is a diacritic used in many modern written languages with alphabets based on the Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek scripts.-Apex:An early precursor of the acute accent was the apex, used in Latin inscriptions to mark long vowels.-Greek:...
were used in some printed documents. 19th century typographers introduced the double acute as a more aesthetic solution.
Hungarian
Standard HungarianHungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
has 14 vowels in a symmetrical system: seven short vowels (a
A
A is the first letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is similar to the Ancient Greek letter Alpha, from which it derives.- Origins :...
, e
E
E is the fifth letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is the most commonly used letter in the Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Latin, Norwegian, Spanish, and Swedish languages.-History:...
, i
I
I is the ninth letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:In Semitic, the letter may have originated in a hieroglyph for an arm that represented a voiced pharyngeal fricative in Egyptian, but was reassigned to by Semites, because their word for "arm" began with that sound...
, o
O
O is the fifteenth letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet.The letter was derived from the Semitic `Ayin , which represented a consonant, probably , the sound represented by the Arabic letter ع called `Ayn. This Semitic letter in its original form seems to have been inspired by a...
, ö
Ö
"Ö", or "ö", is a character used in several extended Latin alphabets, or the letter O with umlaut to denote the front vowels or . In languages without umlaut, the character is also used as a "O with diaeresis" to denote a syllable break, wherein its pronunciation remains an unmodified .- O-Umlaut...
, u
U
U is the twenty-first letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The letter U ultimately comes from the Semitic letter Waw by way of the letter Y. See the letter Y for details....
, ü
Ü
Ü, or ü, is a character which can be either a letter from several extended Latin alphabets, or the letter U with an umlaut or a diaeresis...
) and seven long ones, which are written with an acute accent
Acute accent
The acute accent is a diacritic used in many modern written languages with alphabets based on the Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek scripts.-Apex:An early precursor of the acute accent was the apex, used in Latin inscriptions to mark long vowels.-Greek:...
in the case of á, é, í, ó, ú, and with the double acute in the case of ő, ű. Vowel length has phonemic significance in Hungarian, that is, it distinguishes different words and grammatical forms.
| short | a | e | i | o | ö | u | ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| long | á | é | í | ó | ő | ú | ű |
Slovak
At the beginning of the 20th century, the letter (A with double acute) was sometimes used in SlovakSlovak language
Slovak , is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages .Slovak is the official language of Slovakia, where it is spoken by 5 million people...
as a long variant of the short vowel Ä ä (A with diaeresis), representing the vowel /æː/ in some loanword
Loanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
s. Other long vowels are written with a single acute accent.
The letter is still used for this purpose in Slovak phonetic transcription systems.
Handwriting
In handwritingHandwriting
Handwriting is a person's particular & individual style of writing with pen or pencil, which contrasts with "Hand" which is an impersonal and formalised writing style in several historical varieties...
in German
German alphabet
The modern German alphabet is an extended Latin alphabet consisting of 30 letters – the same letters that are found in the Basic modern Latin alphabet plus four extra letters.In German, the individual letters have neuter gender: das A, das B etc....
and Swedish
Swedish alphabet
Modern Swedish is written with a 29-letter Latin alphabet:Prior to the 13th edition of Svenska Akademiens ordlista in 2006, the letters and were collated together....
, the umlaut
Umlaut (diacritic)
The diaeresis and the umlaut are diacritics that consist of two dots placed over a letter, most commonly a vowel. When that letter is an i or a j, the diacritic replaces the tittle: ï....
is sometimes written similarly to a double acute.
Chuvash
The Chuvash languageChuvash language
Chuvash is a Turkic language spoken in central Russia, primarily in the Chuvash Republic and adjacent areas. It is the only surviving member of the Oghur branch of Turkic languages....
written in the Cyrillic alphabet
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
uses a double-acute Ӳ, ӳ
U with double acute (Cyrillic)
U with double acute is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet, derived from the Cyrillic letter U .U with double acute is used in the alphabet of the Chuvash language, where it represents the close front rounded vowel , the pronunciation of the Latin letter U with umlaut in German...
/y/ as an front
Front vowel
A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also...
counterpart of Cyrillic letter У, у
U (Cyrillic)
U is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet. It commonly represents the close back rounded vowel , somewhat like the pronunciation of ⟨oo⟩ in "boot"...
/u/ (see Chuvash vowel harmony), likely after the analogy of handwriting in Latin script languages. In other minority languages of the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
(Khakas
Khakas language
Khakas is a Turkic language spoken by the Khakas people, who mainly live in the southern Siberian Khakas Republic, or Khakassia, in Russia...
, Mari
Mari language
The Mari language , spoken by more than 600,000 people, belongs to the Uralic language family. It is spoken primarily in the Mari Republic of the Russian Federation as well as in the area along the Vyatka river basin and eastwards to the Urals...
, Altai
Altay language
Altay is a language of the Turkic group of languages. It is an official language of Altai Republic, Russia. The language was called Oyrot prior to 1948. There were ca...
, and Khanty
Khanty language
Khanty or Xanty language, also known previously as the Ostyak language, is a language of the Khant peoples. It is spoken in Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous okrugs, as well as in Aleksandrovsky and Kargosoksky districts of Tomsk Oblast in Russia...
), the umlauted form Ӱ
U with diaeresis (Cyrillic)
U with diaeresis is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet, derived from the Cyrillic letter U .U with diaeresis is used in the alphabets of the Altai, Khakass, Khanty and Mari languages, where it represents the close front rounded vowel , the pronunciation of the Latin letter U with umlaut in...
is used instead.
Faroese
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
handwriting uses "ó" for "ø", which becomes a problem when writing Faroese
Faroese language
Faroese , is an Insular Nordic language spoken by 48,000 people in the Faroe Islands and about 25,000 Faroese people in Denmark and elsewhere...
in the same tradition, as "ó" is a part of the Faroese alphabet. Thus ő is sometimes used for ø in Faroese.
International Phonetic Alphabet
The IPAInternational Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...
and many other phonetic alphabet
Phonetic alphabet
Phonetic alphabet can mean:* phonetic transcription system: a system for transcribing the precise sounds of human speech into writing.** International Phonetic Alphabet : the most widespread such system...
s use two systems to indicate tone: a diacritic system and an adscript system. In the diacritic system, the double acute represents an extra high tone.
| tone | diacritic | adscript |
|---|---|---|
| extra high | e̋ | e˥ |
| high | é | e˦ |
| mid | ē | e˧ |
| low | è | e˨ |
| extra low | ȅ | e˩ |
One may encounter this use as a tone sign in some IPA-derived orthographies of small languages, such as in the North American Native Tanacross
Tanacross language
Tanacross is an endangered Athabaskan language spoken by fewer than 60 persons in eastern Interior Alaska.- Overview :The word Tanacross Tanacross (also Transitional Tanana) is an endangered Athabaskan language spoken by fewer than 60 persons in eastern Interior Alaska.- Overview :The word...
(Athapascan). In line with the IPA usage it denotes the extra-high tone.
Technical notes
O and U with double acute accents are supported in the ISO 8859-2 and UnicodeUnicode
Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
character sets.
ISO 8859-2
In ISO 8859-2 Ő, ő, Ű, ű take the place of some similar looking (but distinct, especially at bigger font sizes) letters of ISO 8859-1.| Codepoint | 0xD5 | 0xF5 | 0xDB | 0xFB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ISO 8859-1 | Õ | õ | Û | û |
| ISO 8859-2 | Ő | ő | Ű | ű |
Unicode
All occurrences of "double acute" in the Unicode 4.1 standard:| description | character | Unicode | HTML |
|---|---|---|---|
| Latin | |||
| LETTER O WITH DOUBLE ACUTE |
Ő ő |
U+0150 U+0151 |
Ő ő |
| LETTER U WITH DOUBLE ACUTE |
Ű ű |
U+0170 U+0171 |
Ű ű |
| Accents | |||
| COMBINING Combining character In digital typography, combining characters are characters that are intended to modify other characters. The most common combining characters in the Latin script are the combining diacritical marks .... DOUBLE ACUTE ACCENT |
◌̋ | U+030B | ̋ |
| DOUBLE ACUTE ACCENT |
◌˝ | U+02DD | ˝ |
| MODIFIER LETTER MIDDLE DOUBLE ACUTE ACCENT |
◌˶ | U+02F6 | ˶ |
| Cyrillic Cyrillic alphabet The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School... |
|||
| LETTER U WITH DOUBLE ACUTE U with double acute (Cyrillic) U with double acute is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet, derived from the Cyrillic letter U .U with double acute is used in the alphabet of the Chuvash language, where it represents the close front rounded vowel , the pronunciation of the Latin letter U with umlaut in German... |
Ӳ ӳ |
U+04F2 U+04F3 |
Ӳ ӳ |
| Canadian syllabics Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics Canadian Aboriginal syllabic writing, or simply syllabics, is a family of abugidas used to write a number of Aboriginal Canadian languages of the Algonquian, Inuit, and Athabaskan language families.... |
|||
| FINAL DOUBLE ACUTE |
◌ᐥ | U+1425 | ᐥ |
LaTeX Input
In LaTeXLaTeX
LaTeX is a document markup language and document preparation system for the TeX typesetting program. Within the typesetting system, its name is styled as . The term LaTeX refers only to the language in which documents are written, not to the editor used to write those documents. In order to...
, the double acute accent is typeset with the \H{} (mnemonic
Mnemonic
A mnemonic , or mnemonic device, is any learning technique that aids memory. To improve long term memory, mnemonic systems are used to make memorization easier. Commonly encountered mnemonics are often verbal, such as a very short poem or a special word used to help a person remember something,...
for Hungarian) command. For example, the name Paul Erdős (in his native Hungarian: Erdős Pál) would be typeset as
Erd\H{o}s P\'al.
X11 Input
In modern X11 system, the double acute can be typed by pressing the Compose key followed by = (the equal sign) and desired letter (o or u).See also
- Hungarian alphabetHungarian alphabetThe Hungarian alphabet is an extension of the Latin alphabet used for writing the Hungarian language.One sometimes speaks of the smaller and greater Hungarian alphabets, depending on whether or not the letters Q, W, X, Y are listed, which can only be found in foreign words and traditional...
- Acute accentAcute accentThe acute accent is a diacritic used in many modern written languages with alphabets based on the Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek scripts.-Apex:An early precursor of the acute accent was the apex, used in Latin inscriptions to mark long vowels.-Greek:...
- Double grave accentDouble grave accentThe double grave accent is a diacritic used in scholarly discussions of the Serbo-Croatian and sometimes Slovene languages. It is also used in the International Phonetic Alphabet....
- Umlaut/DiaeresisUmlaut (diacritic)The diaeresis and the umlaut are diacritics that consist of two dots placed over a letter, most commonly a vowel. When that letter is an i or a j, the diacritic replaces the tittle: ï....
External links
- Diacritics Project — All you need to design a font with correct accents (contains some incorrect/sloppy data on history)