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The Accent on Diacritics Trivia Quiz

Many written words outside the English language, (but using English or Roman characters) come with a little extra baggage on them. There are lots of dashes, dots and whatnot that abound. Do you know what they are?

A multiple-choice quiz by Oddball. Estimated time: 4 mins.

Author
Oddball

Time
4 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
267,045

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
656

Question 1 of 10

1. One of the best known diacritics can be found in the Spanish language, mostly above the letter 'n' in words like 'sue�o' (sleep) and 'a�o' (year). What is the little squiggle called? Hint

Swell

Tilde

Dotte

Ogre

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Question 2 of 10

2. Some European words contain two dots above a letter in a word, like the French 'na�ve' (lacking in sophistication), but mostly in German words like 'sch�n' (beautiful). All of the following but one are terms for these dots. Which one is not? Hint

Glot

Diaresis (mark)

Umlaut

Trema

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Question 3 of 10

3. The dot above the lowercase letters 'i' and 'j' is called a what? Hint

Caron

Yohd

Tittle

Horn

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Question 4 of 10

4. If you see words making use of the double acute accent (two dashes over a letter, like over the 'u' in the word 'bet�k�szletek'), chances are you are looking at what language? Hint

Hungarian

Korean

Chinese

Samoan

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Question 5 of 10

5. Sometimes, particularly with Nordic languages, you'll see a line drawn completely through a letter, like the Nordic words '�stdansk' and 'st�d' and even towns like S�r-Tr�ndelag, Norway. No, it has nothing to do with the movie, 'Ghostbusters'. What's it called? Hint

A bar

A grave accent

A chandrabindu

An anuswara

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Question 6 of 10

6. This diacritical note is used in the Vietnamese language and looks like a question mark above the letter, but no dot underneath. What is this called? Hint

The Hook

The Quizzy

The Whatheheck

The Macro

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Question 7 of 10

7. Some letters have a little extra tail at the bottom, like the French word 'fa�ade' (face of a building, or an artificial front). This little tail is called a what? Hint

An asper

A cedilla

A cursive

A fricative

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Question 8 of 10

8. The Scandinavians and Czech languages sometimes employ a little circle above a letter, mostly the letter 'A' in words like the Swedish '�ngstr�m' (a unit of length), and even the word '�' (river). What is the little circle called? Hint

An ibestad

A ring

An andoy

A faro

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Question 9 of 10

9. Romanized versions of Japanese words will usually include a stripe over a letter, mostly as a pronunciation note like in the name 'kōtsū' (traffic) and even the capitol city 'Tōkyō'. What are the stripes known as? Hint

Macrons

Wāpuros

Kanas

Sokuons

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Question 10 of 10

10. Punctuation marks are sometimes used as diacritics. Which of the following is NOT? Hint

Comma

Exclamation mark

Apostrophe

Colon

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. One of the best known diacritics can be found in the Spanish language, mostly above the letter 'n' in words like 'sue�o' (sleep) and 'a�o' (year). What is the little squiggle called?

Answer: Tilde

The tilde symbol comes from the Spanish via the Latin word 'titulus', denoting an official title. It puts a 'y' sound in the word. Hence, 'a�o' is pronounced 'AN-yo' and 'sue�o' is pronounced 'SWEN-yo'.

Answer: Glot

In the case of the diaresis and trema, the dots indicate the letter it is over should be pronounced. The umlaut merely gives an extra sound to the letter. There are many of these recognized in English, like the surname of the famous literary Bront� (pronounced 'BRON-tay') sisters.

3. The dot above the lowercase letters 'i' and 'j' is called a what?

Answer: Tittle

Back in the time of the Roman Empire, the tittle used to be larger, more like a dash above the small 'i'. That dash eventually became a dot as Roman-style typeface came into being.

4. If you see words making use of the double acute accent (two dashes over a letter, like over the 'u' in the word 'bet�k�szletek'), chances are you are looking at what language?

Answer: Hungarian

If you have an interest in the history of eastern Europe, this may be the language to learn. This is among the official language of not only Hungary, but also Slovenia, Serbia and regional areas of Austria and Romania. The double acute accent is used primarily with this language.

Answer: A bar

Nothing serious, was it? Yes, it's the same thing that separates the letter 'Q' from the letter 'O'. Sometimes it's used to make a new sound out of the letter, but other times, like when drawn through the letter 'Z' or the number '7', it just makes it prettier.

6. This diacritical note is used in the Vietnamese language and looks like a question mark above the letter, but no dot underneath. What is this called?

Answer: The Hook

Known in Vietnam as the 'dấu hỏi', any vowels with this symbol are pronounced with a falling then rising tone. Thus, a capital 'A' would become 'Ả', and a lower case 'u' becomes 'ủ'. This diacritic is also called the 'hook above'.

7. Some letters have a little extra tail at the bottom, like the French word 'fa�ade' (face of a building, or an artificial front). This little tail is called a what?

Answer: A cedilla

Basically, it's an inverted hook. It's most recognized in the English language on the letter 'c' to indicate that it's supposed to be pronounced with the soft 's' sound and not the hard 'k' sound. The name 'cedilla' is taken from the old Spanish name 'ceda', also known as the letter 'z'.

Answer: A ring

Actually, to many Scandinavians (Norwegians, Swedes, Danes, Finns, ect.), the letter '�' is not a letter with a diacritic, but a whole separate letter. It represents a number of 'o' sounds in the language.

Answer: Macrons

Translating the sounds of Japanese words into the Latin alphabet began back in 1887. The practice was called 'Shūsei Hebon-shiki Rōmaji' (Hepburn romanization), named for its main proponent, James Curtis Hepburn (1815-1911). He also founded Meiji Gakuin University in Tokyo and Yokohama. Among his descendants was actress Katharine Hepburn.

10. Punctuation marks are sometimes used as diacritics. Which of the following is NOT?

Answer: Exclamation mark

The apostrophe is very popular in places and surnames like those found in Ireland, Italy and France. The colon is used in Finland and Sweden much like the apostrophe. Commas have their place in Romania as s-commas and t-commas, and are sometimes used in place of cedillas.

Source: Author Oddball

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor stuthehistoryguy before going online.
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