diakrítikum

A diacritic is a glyph added to a letter or character to alter its pronunciation, distinguish it from a similar character, or indicate stress or tone. Diacritics are used in many languages written in Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts, among others. They can appear above, below, or within a letter.

Common examples of diacritics include the acute accent (á), grave accent (à), circumflex (â), umlaut or diaeresis (ä), tilde (ñ), and cedilla (ç). The acute accent is often used to indicate stress or a raised pitch, while the grave accent can indicate a lowered pitch or a different vowel sound. The circumflex usually signifies a long vowel or a contraction of two vowels. The umlaut and diaeresis indicate a change in vowel sound, often making it a fronted or rounded sound. The tilde can represent nasalization or a palatalized consonant. The cedilla modifies the sound of a consonant, typically making it sound like an 's'.

The use of diacritics is essential for the correct pronunciation and meaning of words in many languages. For instance, in Spanish, the tilde over the 'n' in "niño" creates a distinct sound from the 'n' in "nino." In French, the circumflex in "fête" distinguishes it from "fete." Without diacritics, a language's orthography would be incomplete and could lead to misinterpretation. Their systematic application contributes to the richness and precision of written language.