Grave accent: Difference between revisions

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The '''grave accent''' ('''{{char|`}}''') ({{IPAc-en|ɡ|r|eɪ|v}}<ref name="AHD">{{Citation |author=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |title=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |url=https://ahdictionary.com/ |postscript=.}}</ref><ref name="OxfordDictionaries">{{Citation |author=Oxford Dictionaries |author-link=OxfordDictionaries.com |title=Oxford Dictionaries Online |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/ |postscript=.}}</ref> or {{IPAc-en|ɡ|r|ɑː|v}}<ref name="AHD"/><ref name="OxfordDictionaries"/>) is a [[diacritical]] mark used to varying degrees in [[French language|French]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[Italian language|Italian]] and many other western European languages, as well as for a few unusual uses in English. It is also used in other languages using the Latin alphabet, such as [[Mohawk language|Mohawk]] and [[Yoruba language|Yoruba]], and with non-Latin writing systems such as the [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] and [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]] alphabets and the [[Bopomofo]] or Zhuyin Fuhao [[semi-syllabary]]. It has no single meaning, but can indicate pitch, stress, or other features.
The '''grave accent''' ('''{{char|`}}''') ({{IPAc-en|ɡ|r|eɪ|v}}<ref name="AHD">{{Citation |author=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |title=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |url=https://ahdictionary.com/ |postscript=.}}</ref><ref name="OxfordDictionaries">{{Citation |author=Oxford Dictionaries |author-link=OxfordDictionaries.com |title=Oxford Dictionaries Online |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/ |postscript=.}}</ref> or {{IPAc-en|ɡ|r|ɑː|v}}<ref name="AHD"/><ref name="OxfordDictionaries"/>) is a [[diacritical]] mark used to varying degrees in [[French language|French]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[Italian language|Italian]] and many other western European languages, as well as for a few unusual uses in English. It is also used in other languages using the Latin alphabet, such as [[Mohawk language|Mohawk]] and [[Yoruba language|Yoruba]], and with non-Latin writing systems such as the [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] and [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]] alphabets and the [[Bopomofo]] or Zhuyin Fuhao [[semi-syllabary]]. It has no single meaning, but can indicate pitch, stress, or other features.


For the most commonly encountered uses of the accent in the Latin and Greek alphabets, [[precomposed character]]s are available. A free-standing version of the symbol also exists and has acquired other uses.
For the most commonly encountered uses of the accent in the Latin and Greek alphabets, [[precomposed character]]s are available. A [[backtick|free-standing version of the symbol]] also exists and has acquired other uses.


==Uses==
==Uses==
Line 81: Line 81:


A grave accent can also occur in a foreign (usually French) term which has not been [[Anglicisation|anglicised]]: for example, ''[[wikt:vis-à-vis|vis-à-vis]]'', ''[[pièce de résistance]]'' or ''[[crème brûlée]]''. It also may occur in an English name, often as an affectation, as for example in the case of [[Albert Ketèlbey]].
A grave accent can also occur in a foreign (usually French) term which has not been [[Anglicisation|anglicised]]: for example, ''[[wikt:vis-à-vis|vis-à-vis]]'', ''[[pièce de résistance]]'' or ''[[crème brûlée]]''. It also may occur in an English name, often as an affectation, as for example in the case of [[Albert Ketèlbey]].

===As surrogate of apostrophe or (opening) single quote===
The layout of some European PC keyboards combined with problematic keyboard driver semantics causes many users to use a grave accent or an acute accent instead of an [[apostrophe]] when typing in English (e.g. typing {{typo|Brian`s Theater or Brian´s Theater}} instead of Brian's Theater).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ucs/apostrophe.html|title=Apostrophe and acute accent confusion|last=Kuhn|first=Markus|publisher=Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge|date=7 May 2001|access-date=4 June 2012}}</ref>

Additionally ASCII grave accent character ({{unichar|60|Grave accent}}) was often used as surrogate of [[opening single quote]], together with ASCII typewriter apostrophe ({{unichar|27|Apostrophe}}) used as closing single quote; double quotes were sometimes substituted by two consecutive grave accents and two consecutive typewriter apostrophes (<nowiki>``…''</nowiki>). Although Unicode now provides separate characters for single and double quotes, such style is sometimes used even nowadays; examples are: output generated by some UNIX console programs, rendering of [[man pages]] within some environments, technical documentation written long ago or written in old-school manner. However, as time goes on, such style is used less and less, and even institutions that traditionally were using that style are now abandoning it.<ref>{{Cite web |quote=<nowiki>In the C locale, the output of GNU programs should stick to plain ASCII for quotation characters in messages to users: preferably 0x22 (‘"’) or 0x27 (‘'’) for both opening and closing quotes. Although GNU programs traditionally used 0x60 (‘`’) for opening and 0x27 (‘'’) for closing quotes, nowadays quotes ‘`like this'’ are typically rendered asymmetrically, so quoting ‘"like this"’ or ‘'like this'’ typically looks better.</nowiki> |url=https://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/html_node/Quote-Characters.html#Quote-Characters |title=GNU Coding Standards: Quote Characters |work=GNU Coding Standards |publisher=[[Free Software Foundation]] |date=19 February 2019 |access-date=12 March 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-texinfo/2012-01/msg00026.html |title=<nowiki>makeinfo should quote 'like this' instead of `like this'</nowiki> |first=Paul |last=Eggert |date=23 January 2012 |work=bug-texinfo Archives |access-date=27 March 2018}}</ref>


== Letters with grave ==
== Letters with grave ==
{{Letters with grave}}
{{Letters with grave}}


==Unicode==
==Technical notes<span class="anchor" id="ASCII grave"></span>==
{{anchor|computer}}
{{anchor|computer}}
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The [[Unicode]] standard makes dozens of letters with a grave accent available as [[precomposed characters]]. The older [[ISO-8859-1]] character encoding only includes the letters ''à'', ''è'', ''ì'', ''ò'', ''ù'', and their respective [[Majuscule|capital]] forms. In the much older, limited 7-bit [[ASCII]] character set, the grave accent is encoded as character 96 ([[hexadecimal|hex]] 60). Outside the US, character 96 is often replaced by accented letters. In the French [[ISO/IEC 646|ISO 646]] standard, the character at this position is ''[[Micro-|µ]]''. Many older UK computers, such as the [[ZX Spectrum]] and [[BBC Micro]], have the ''[[Pound Sterling|£]]'' symbol as character 96, though the British ISO 646 variant ultimately placed this symbol at position 35 instead.
The [[Unicode]] standard makes dozens of letters with a grave accent available as [[precomposed characters]]. The older [[ISO-8859-1]] character encoding only includes the letters ''à'', ''è'', ''ì'', ''ò'', ''ù'', and their respective [[Majuscule|capital]] forms.


On [[British and American keyboards]], the grave accent is a key by itself. Due to the character's presence in ASCII, this is primarily used to actually type that character, though some layouts (such as [[QWERTY#US-International|US International]] or [[QWERTY#United Kingdom (Extended) Layout|UK extended]]) may use it as a [[dead key]] to modify the following letter. (With these layouts, to get a character such as <code>à</code>, the user can type {{key press|`}} and then the vowel. For example, to make <code>à</code>, the user can type {{key press|`}} and then {{key press|a}}). In territories where the diacritic is used routinely, the [[precomposed character]]s are provided as standard on national keyboards.
On [[British and American keyboards]], the grave accent is a key by itself. This is primarily used to actually type the [[backtick|stand-alone character]], though some layouts (such as [[QWERTY#US-International|US International]] or [[QWERTY#United Kingdom (Extended) Layout|UK extended]]) may use it as a [[dead key]] to modify the following letter. (With these layouts, to get a character such as <code>à</code>, the user can type {{key press|`}} and then the vowel. For example, to make <code>à</code>, the user can type {{key press|`}} and then {{key press|a}}). In territories where the diacritic is used routinely, the [[precomposed character]]s are provided as standard on national keyboards.


On a Mac, to get a character such as <code>à</code>, the user can type {{key press|Option|`}} and then the vowel. For example, to make <code>à</code>, the user can type {{key press|Option|`}} and then {{key press|a}}, and to make <code>À</code>, the user can type {{key press|Option|`}} and then {{key press|Shift|a}}. In [[iOS]] and most [[Android (operating system)|Android]] keyboards, combined characters with the grave accent are accessed by holding a finger on the vowel, which opens a menu for accents. For example, to make <code>à</code>, the user can tap and hold {{key press|a}} and then tap or slide to {{key press|à}}. Mac versions of [[OS X Mountain Lion]] (10.8) or newer share similar functionality to iOS; by pressing and holding a vowel key to open an accent menu, the user may click on the grave accented character or type the corresponding number key displayed.
On a Mac, to get a character such as <code>à</code>, the user can type {{key press|Option|`}} and then the vowel. For example, to make <code>à</code>, the user can type {{key press|Option|`}} and then {{key press|a}}, and to make <code>À</code>, the user can type {{key press|Option|`}} and then {{key press|Shift|a}}. In [[iOS]] and most [[Android (operating system)|Android]] keyboards, combined characters with the grave accent are accessed by holding a finger on the vowel, which opens a menu for accents. For example, to make <code>à</code>, the user can tap and hold {{key press|a}} and then tap or slide to {{key press|à}}. Mac versions of [[OS X Mountain Lion]] (10.8) or newer share similar functionality to iOS; by pressing and holding a vowel key to open an accent menu, the user may click on the grave accented character or type the corresponding number key displayed.


On a system running the [[X Window System]], to get a character such as <code>à</code>, the user should press {{key press|Compose}} followed by {{key press|`}}, then the vowel. The [[compose key]] on modern keyboards is usually mapped to a {{key press|Win}} key or {{key press|Shift|Alt Gr}}.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ComposeKey |title = Compose Key | access-date = 2010-10-29 | publisher = [[Ubuntu (operating system)|Ubuntu]] Community Documentation }}</ref>
On a system running the [[X Window System]], to get a character such as <code>à</code>, the user should press {{key press|Compose}} followed by {{key press|`}}, then the vowel. The [[compose key]] on modern keyboards is usually mapped to a {{key press|Win}} key or {{key press|Shift|Alt Gr}}.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ComposeKey |title = Compose Key | access-date = 2010-10-29 | publisher = [[Ubuntu (operating system)|Ubuntu]] Community Documentation }}</ref>

=== Games ===
In many PC-based computer games in the US and UK, the {{key press|`}} key (on US English and UK keyboards) is used to open the [[Console (video game CLI)|console]] so the user can execute script commands via its [[command line interface|CLI]]. {{citation needed|date=February 2016}} This is true for games such as ''[[Factorio]]'', ''[[Battlefield 3]]'', ''[[Half-Life (video game)|Half-Life]]'', ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved|Halo CE]]'', ''[[Quake (video game)|Quake]]'', ''[[Half-Life 2]]'', ''[[Blockland (video game)|Blockland]]'', ''[[Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix]]'', ''[[Unreal (1998 video game)|Unreal]]'', ''[[Counter-Strike]]'', ''[[Crysis]]'', ''[[The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind|Morrowind]]'', ''[[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion|Oblivion]]'', ''[[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim|Skyrim]]'',<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Console_Commands#General_Information |title=Skyrim:Console |website=UESPWiki |access-date=15 November 2019}}</ref> ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'', ''[[Fallout 3]]'', ''[[Fallout 4]]'', ''[[RuneScape]]'', and games based on the [[Quake engine]] or [[Source (game engine)|Source engine]]. {{citation needed|date=February 2016}}
While not necessarily the original progenitor of the console key concept, Quake is still widely associated with any usage of the {{key press|`}} key as a toggle for a drop-down console, often being referred to as the "Quake Key". In 2021, Microsoft Powershell introduced a "Quake Mode" which enables a global shortcut of Meta+{{key press|`}} (with a predictable result). This sign is located on the left-top of a U.S layout keyboard

===Use in programming===
Programmers use the grave accent symbol as a separate character (i.e., not combined with any letter) for a number of tasks. In this role, it is known as a '''backquote''', or '''backtick'''.

Many of the [[Unix shell]]s and the [[programming language]]s [[Perl]], [[PHP]], and [[Ruby (programming language)|Ruby]] use pairs of this character to indicate [[command substitution]], that is, substitution of the [[standard output]] from one command into a line of text defining another command. For example, using $ as the symbol representing a terminal prompt, the code line:

<pre>$ echo It is now `date`</pre>

is equivalent, after ''command substitution'', to the command:

$ echo It is now {{#time:D M j H:i:s "GMT" Y}}

which then, on execution, produces the output:

It is now {{#time:D M j H:i:s "GMT" Y}}

It is sometimes used in [[source code comments]] to indicate code, e.g.,

<pre>/* Use the `printf()` function. */</pre>

This is also the format the [[Markdown]] formatter uses to indicate code.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax#code|title = Daring Fireball: Markdown Syntax Documentation}}</ref> Some variations of Markdown support "fenced code blocks" that span multiple lines of code, starting (and ending) with three backticks in a row (<code>```</code>).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://github.github.com/gfm/#fenced-code-blocks |title=GitHub Flavored Markdown Spec |access-date=23 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221045705/https://github.github.com/gfm/#fenced-code-blocks |archive-date=21 February 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Various programming and scripting languages use the backquote character:

; [[Bash (Unix shell)|Bash shell]] and [[Z shell]] : The <code>`...`</code> syntax is referred to as ''command substitution''. It replaces a command with its output.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginners-Guide/html/sect_03_04.html|title=Shell expansion|website=tldp.org|access-date=27 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://zsh.sourceforge.net/Intro/intro_7.html|title=An Introduction to the Z Shell - Command/Process Substitution|website=zsh.sourceforge.net|access-date=27 March 2018}}</ref>
:The use of backticks for command substitution is now largely deprecated in favor of the notation <code>$(...)</code>, so that one of the examples above would be re-written:
:
:<pre>$ echo It is now $(date)</pre>
:
:The latter syntax allows easier multiple nesting than with backquotes such as, for example:
:
:<pre>$ cd $(dirname $(type -P touch))</pre>

; [[BBC BASIC]] : The backquote character is valid at the beginning of or within a variable, structure, procedure or function name.

; [[D (programming language)|D]] and [[Go (programming language)|Go]] : The backquote surrounds a [[String literal#Raw strings|raw string literal]].

; [[F Sharp (programming language)|F#]] : Surrounding an identifier with double backquotes allows the use of identifiers that would not otherwise be allowed, such as keywords, or identifiers containing punctuation or spaces.

; [[Haskell (programming language)|Haskell]] : Surrounding a function name by backquotes makes it an [[Infix notation|infix operator]].

;[[JavaScript]] :[[ECMAScript 6]] standard introduced a "backtick"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Template_literals|title=Template literals (Template strings)|website=MDN Web Docs|language=en|access-date=2019-05-22}}</ref> character which indicated a string or template literal. Its applications include (but are not limited to): string interpolation (substitution), embedded expressions, and multi-line strings. In the following example <code>name</code> and <code>pet</code> variable's values get substituted into the string enclosed by grave accent characters:
::<syntaxhighlight lang="js">
const name = "Mary", pet = "lamb"; //
let temp = `${name} has a little ${pet}!`;
console.log(temp);
// => "Mary has a little lamb!";
</syntaxhighlight>

; [[Lisp (programming language)|Lisp]] [[Macro (computer science)|macro]] systems : The backquote character (called ''quasiquote'' in [[Scheme (programming language)|Scheme]]) introduces a quoted expression in which comma-substitution may occur. It is identical to the plain quote, except that a nested expression prefixed with a [[comma (punctuation)|comma]] is replaced with the value of that nested expression. If the nested expression happens to be a symbol (that is, a variable name in Lisp), the symbols' value is used. If the expression happens to be program code, the first value returned by that code is inserted at the respective location instead of the comma-prefixed code. This is roughly analogous to the Bourne shell's [[variable interpolation]] with <CODE>$</CODE> inside double quotes.

; [[m4 (computer language)|m4]] : A backquote together with an apostrophe quotes strings (to suppress or defer macro expansion).

; [[MySQL]] : A backquote in queries is a delimiter for column, table, and database identifiers.

; [[OCaml]] : The backquote indicates polymorphic variants.

; [[Pico programming language|Pico]] : The backquote indicates comments in the programming language.

; [[PowerShell]] : The backquote is used as the escape character. For example, a newline character is denoted <code>`n</code>. Most common programming languages use a backslash as the escape character (e.g., <code>\n</code>), but because Windows allows the backslash as a path separator, it is impractical for PowerShell to use backslash for a different purpose. Two backticks produce the <code>`</code> character itself. For example, the [[Nullable type|nullable]] [[Boolean data type|boolean]] of [[.NET Framework|.NET]] is specified in PowerShell as <code>[Nullable``1[System.Boolean]]</code>.

; [[Python (programming language)|Python]] : Prior to version 3.0, backticks were a synonym for the <code>repr()</code> function, which converts its argument to a string suitable for a programmer to view. However, this feature was removed in Python 3.0. Backticks also appear extensively in the [[reStructuredText]] plain text markup language (implemented in the Python [[docutils]] package).

; [[R (programming language)|R]] : The backquote is used to surround non-syntactic variable names. This includes variable names containing special characters or [[reserved words]], among others.<ref name="R Documentation">{{Citation |author=R Core Team |title=Quotes: Quotes |publisher=R Foundation for Statistical Computing |url=https://www.rdocumentation.org/packages/base/versions/3.6.2/topics/Quotes|postscript=.}}</ref>

; [[Scala (programming language)|Scala]] : An identifier may also be formed by an arbitrary string between backquotes. The identifier then is composed of all characters excluding the backquotes themselves.<ref>{{Citation| last = Odersky| first = Martin| title = The Scala Language Specification Version 2.9| date = 2011-05-24}}</ref>

; [[TeX]] : The backtick character represents curly opening quotes. For example, <code>`</code> is rendered as single opening curly quote ({{not a typo|‘}}) and <code>``</code> is a double curly opening quote ({{not a typo|“}}). It also supplies the numeric ASCII value of an ASCII character wherever a number is expected.

; [[Tom (pattern matching language)|Tom]] : The backquote creates a new term or to calls an existing term.

; [[Unlambda]] : The backquote character denotes function application.

; [[Verilog]] [[Hardware description language|HDL]] : The backquote is used at the beginning of compiler's directives.


==References==
==References==
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*{{Wiktionary-inline|è}}
*{{Wiktionary-inline|è}}
*[http://diacritics.typo.cz Diacritics Project – All you need to design a font with correct accents]
*[http://diacritics.typo.cz Diacritics Project – All you need to design a font with correct accents]
*[http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ucs/quotes.html ASCII and Unicode quotation marks] – "Please do not use the ASCII grave accent as a left quotation mark"
*[http://www.starr.net/is/type/kbh.html Keyboard Help] – Learn how to create world language accent marks and other diacriticals on a computer
*[http://www.starr.net/is/type/kbh.html Keyboard Help] – Learn how to create world language accent marks and other diacriticals on a computer


Revision as of 20:37, 18 April 2022

◌̀
Grave accent
U+0300 ̀ COMBINING GRAVE ACCENT (diacritic)
See also
U+0060 ` GRAVE ACCENT (symbol)
This page uses orthographic and related notations. For the notations ⟨ ⟩, / / and [ ]  used in this article, see IPA Brackets and transcription delimiters.

The grave accent (`) (

diacritical mark used to varying degrees in French, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian and many other western European languages, as well as for a few unusual uses in English. It is also used in other languages using the Latin alphabet, such as Mohawk and Yoruba, and with non-Latin writing systems such as the Greek and Cyrillic alphabets and the Bopomofo or Zhuyin Fuhao semi-syllabary
. It has no single meaning, but can indicate pitch, stress, or other features.

For the most commonly encountered uses of the accent in the Latin and Greek alphabets, precomposed characters are available. A free-standing version of the symbol also exists and has acquired other uses.

Uses

Pitch

See also: Ancient Greek accent

The grave accent first appeared in the

pitch than the high pitch of the acute accent. In modern practice, it replaces an acute accent in the last syllable of a word when that word is followed immediately by another word. The grave and circumflex
have been replaced with an acute accent in the modern monotonic orthography.

The accent mark was called βαρεῖα, the feminine form of the adjective βαρύς (barús), meaning "heavy" or "low in pitch." This was calqued (loan-translated) into Latin as gravis, which then became the English word grave.

Stress

The grave accent marks the stressed vowels of words in Maltese, Catalan, and Italian.

A general rule in

input methods for typing accented letters sometimes use a separate grave accent or even an apostrophe instead of the proper accent character. This is nonstandard but is especially common when typing capital letters: *E` or *E’ instead of È ("[he/she/it] is"). Other mistakes arise from the misunderstanding of truncated and elided words: the phrase un po’ ("a little"), which is the truncated version of un poco, may be mistakenly spelled as *un pò. Italian has word pairs where one has an accent marked and the other not, with different pronunciation and meaning—such as pero ("pear tree") and però ("but"), and Papa ("Pope") and papà ("dad"); the latter example is also valid for Catalan
.

In Bulgarian, the grave accent sometimes appears on the vowels а, о, у, е, и, and ъ to mark stress. It most commonly appears in books for children or foreigners, and dictionaries—or to distinguish between near-homophones: па̀ра (pàra, "steam/vapour") and пара̀ (parà, "cent/penny, money"), въ̀лна (vằlna, "wool") and вълна̀ (vǎlnà, "wave").

In Macedonian the stress mark is orthographically required to distinguish homographs (see Disambiguation) and is put mostly on the vowels е and и. Then, it forces the stress on the accented word-syllable instead of having a different syllable in the stress group getting accented. In turn, it changes the pronunciation and the whole meaning of the group.

Ukrainian, Rusyn, Belarusian, and Russian used a similar system until the first half of the 20th century. Now the main stress is preferably marked with an acute, and the role of the grave is limited to marking secondary stress in compound words (in dictionaries and linguistic literature).

In Croatian, Serbian, and Slovene, the stressed syllable can be short or long and have a rising or falling tone. They use (in dictionaries, orthography, and grammar books, for example) four different stress marks (grave, acute, double grave, and inverted breve) on the letters a, e, i, o, r, and u: à è ì ò r̀ ù. The system is identical in both Latin and Cyrillic scripts. Unicode forgot to encode R-grave when encoding the letters with stress marks.[citation needed]

In modern

Church Slavonic
, there are three stress marks (acute, grave, and circumflex), which formerly represented different types of pitch accent. There is no longer any phonetic distinction between them, only an orthographical one. The grave is typically used when the stressed vowel is the last letter of a multiletter word.

In

Ligurian, the grave accent marks the accented short vowel of a word in à (sound [a]), è (sound [ɛ]), ì (sound [i]) and ù (sound [y]). For ò, it indicates the short sound of [o], but may not be the stressed vowel of the word.[citation needed
]

Height

The grave accent marks the

height or openness of the vowels e and o, indicating that they are pronounced open: è [ɛ] (as opposed to é [e]); ò [ɔ] (as opposed to ó [o]), in several Romance languages
:

Disambiguation

In several languages, the grave accent distinguishes both

homophones and words that otherwise would be homographs
:

  • In Bulgarian and Macedonian, it distinguishes the conjunction и ("and") from the short-form feminine possessive pronoun ѝ.
  • In Catalan, it distinguishes homophone words such as ma ("my (f)") and mà ("hand").
  • In
    definite article
    la; it is also used in the words déjà ("already"), deçà (preceded by en or au, and meaning "closer than" or "inferior to (a given value)"), the phrase çà et là ("hither and thither"; without the accents, it would literally mean "it and the") and its functional synonym deçà, delà. It is used on the letter u only to distinguish où ("where") and ou ("or"). È is rarely used to distinguish homonyms except in dès/des ("since/some"), ès/es ("in/(thou) art"), and lès/les ("near/the").
  • In Italian, it distinguishes, for example, the feminine article la from the adverb là ("there").
  • In Norwegian (both Bokmål and Nynorsk), the grave accent separates words that would otherwise be identical: og (and) and òg (too). Popular usage, possibly because Norwegian rarely uses diacritics, often leads to a grave accent in place of an acute accent.
  • In Romansh, it distinguishes (in the Rumantsch Grischun standard) e ("and") from the verb form è ("he/she/it is") and en ("in") from èn ("they are"). It also marks distinctions of stress (gia "already" vs. gìa "violin") and of vowel quality (letg "bed" vs. lètg "marriage").

Length

In Welsh, the accent denotes a short vowel sound in a word that would otherwise be pronounced with a long vowel sound: mẁg [mʊɡ] "mug" versus mwg [muːɡ] "smoke".

In Scottish Gaelic, it denotes a long vowel, such as cùis [kʰuːʃ] ("subject"), compared with cuir [kʰuɾʲ] ("put"). The use of acute accents to denote the rarer close long vowels, leaving the grave accents for the open long ones, is seen in older texts, but it is no longer allowed according to the new orthographical conventions.

Tone

In some

Hanyu Pinyin or Zhuyin Fuhao), the grave accent indicates a falling tone
. The alternative to the grave accent in Mandarin is the numeral 4 after the syllable: pà = pa4.

In

African languages and in International Phonetic Alphabet, the grave accent often indicates a low tone: Nobiin jàkkàr ("fish-hook"), Yoruba àgbọ̀n ("chin"), Hausa
màcè ("woman").

The grave accent represents the low tone in Kanien'kéha or Mohawk.

Other uses

In

Romagnol
they represent [ɛ] and [ɔ].

In Portuguese, the grave accent indicates the contraction of two consecutive vowels in adjacent words (crasis). For example, instead of a aquela hora ("at that hour"), one says and writes àquela hora.

In

ʻokina
: Hawai`i instead of Hawaiʻi.

English

The grave accent, though rare in English words, sometimes appears in poetry and song lyrics to indicate that a usually silent vowel is pronounced to fit the rhythm or meter. Most often, it is applied to a word that ends with -ed. For instance, the word looked is usually pronounced /lʊkt/ as a single syllable, with the e silent; when written as lookèd, the e is pronounced: /ˈlʊkɪd/ look-ed). In this capacity, it can also distinguish certain pairs of identically spelled words like the past tense of learn, learned /lɜːrnd/, from the adjective learnèd /ˈlɜːrnɪd/ (for example, "a very learnèd man").

A grave accent can also occur in a foreign (usually French) term which has not been anglicised: for example, vis-à-vis, pièce de résistance or crème brûlée. It also may occur in an English name, often as an affectation, as for example in the case of Albert Ketèlbey.

Letters with grave

Template:Letters with grave

Unicode

description character Unicode HTML
grave
above 		◌̀
combining, accent		 U+0300 &#768;
◌̀
combining, tone		 U+0340 &#832;
`
spacing, symbol		 U+0060 &#96;
ˋ
spacing, letter		 U+02CB &#715;
double
grave 		◌̏
combining		 U+030F &#783;
˵
spacing, middle		 U+02F5 &#757;
middle
grave 		˴
spacing, middle		 U+02F4 &#756;
grave
below 		◌̖
combining		 U+0316 &#790;
ˎ
spacing, letter		 U+02CE &#718;
additional
diacritic		 Latin
— À
à		 U+00C0
U+00E0		 &#192;
&#224;
È
è		 U+00C8
U+00E8		 &#200;
&#232;
Ì
ì		 U+00CC
U+00EC		 &#204;
&#236;
Ò
ò		 U+00D2
U+00F2		 &#210;
&#242;
Ù
ù		 U+00D9
U+00F9		 &#217;
&#249;
Ǹ
ǹ		 U+01F8
U+01F9		 &#504;
&#505;
Ẁ
ẁ		 U+1E80
U+1E81		 &#7808;
&#7809;
Ỳ
ỳ		 U+1EF2
U+1EF3		 &#7922;
&#7923;
diaeresis Ǜ
ǜ		 U+01DB
U+01DC		 &#475;
&#476;
double
grave 		Ȁ
ȁ		 U+0200
U+0201		 &#512;
&#513;
Ȅ
ȅ		 U+0204
U+0205		 &#516;
&#517;
Ȉ
ȉ		 U+0208
U+0209		 &#520;
&#521;
Ȍ
ȍ		 U+020C
U+020D		 &#524;
&#525;
Ȑ
ȑ		 U+0210
U+0211		 &#528;
&#529;
Ȕ
ȕ		 U+0214
U+0215		 &#532;
&#533;
macron Ḕ
ḕ		 U+1E14
U+1E15		 &#7700;
&#7701;
Ṑ
ṑ		 U+1E50
U+1E51		 &#7760;
&#7761;
circumflex Ầ
ầ		 U+1EA6
U+1EA7		 &#7846;
&#7847;
Ề
ề		 U+1EC0
U+1EC1		 &#7872;
&#7873;
Ồ
ồ		 U+1ED2
U+1ED3		 &#7890;
&#7891;
breve Ằ
ằ		 U+1EB0
U+1EB1		 &#7856;
&#7857;
horn Ờ
ờ		 U+1EDC
U+1EDD		 &#7900;
&#7901;
Ừ
ừ		 U+1EEA
U+1EEB		 &#7914;
&#7915;
Cyrillic
— Ѐ
ѐ		 U+0400
U+0450		 &#1024;
&#1104;
Ѝ
ѝ		 U+040D
U+045D		 &#1037;
&#1117;
Ѷ
ѷ		 U+0476
U+0477		 &#1142;
&#1143;
Greek (varia)
— ` U+1FEF &#8175;
Ὰ
ὰ		 U+1FBA
U+1F70		 &#8122;
&#8048;
Ὲ
ὲ		 U+1FC8
U+1F72		 &#8136;
&#8050;
Ὴ
ὴ		 U+1FCA
U+1F74		 &#8138;
&#8052;
Ὶ
ὶ		 U+1FDA
U+1F76		 &#8154;
&#8054;
Ὸ
ὸ		 U+1FF8
U+1F78		 &#8184;
&#8056;
Ὺ
ὺ		 U+1FEA
U+1F7A		 &#8170;
&#8058;
Ὼ
ὼ		 U+1FFA
U+1F7C		 &#8186;
&#8060;
smooth
breathing 		῍ U+1FCD &#8141;
Ἂ
ἂ		 U+1F0A
U+1F02		 &#7946;
&#7938;
Ἒ
ἒ		 U+1F1A
U+1F12		 &#7962;
&#7954;
Ἢ
ἢ		 U+1F2A
U+1F22		 &#7978;
&#7970;
Ἲ
ἲ		 U+1F3A
U+1F32		 &#7994;
&#7986;
Ὂ
ὂ		 U+1F4A
U+1F42		 &#8010;
&#8002;
—
ὒ		 —
U+1F52		 —
&#8018;
Ὢ
ὢ		 U+1F6A
U+1F62		 &#8042;
&#8034;
rough
breathing 		῝ U+1FDD &#8157;
Ἃ
ἃ		 U+1F0B
U+1F03		 &#7947;
&#7939;
Ἓ
ἓ		 U+1F1B
U+1F13		 &#7963;
&#7955;
Ἣ
ἣ		 U+1F2B
U+1F23		 &#7979;
&#7971;
Ἳ
ἳ		 U+1F3B
U+1F33		 &#7995;
&#7987;
Ὃ
ὃ		 U+1F4B
U+1F43		 &#8011;
&#8003;
Ὓ
ὓ		 U+1F5B
U+1F53		 &#8027;
&#8019;
Ὣ
ὣ		 U+1F6B
U+1F63		 &#8043;
&#8035;
iota
subscript 		—
ᾲ		 —
U+1FB2		 —
&#8114;
—
ῂ		 —
U+1FC2		 —
&#8130;
—
ῲ		 —
U+1FF2		 —
&#8178;
smooth
breathing,
iota
subscript 		ᾊ
ᾂ		 U+1F8A
U+1F82		 &#8074;
&#8066;
ᾚ
ᾒ		 U+1F9A
U+1F92		 &#8090;
&#8082;
ᾪ
ᾢ		 U+1FAA
U+1FA2		 &#8106;
&#8098;
rough
breathing,
iota
subscript 		ᾋ
ᾃ		 U+1F8B
U+1F83		 &#8075;
&#8067;
ᾛ
ᾓ		 U+1F9B
U+1F93		 &#8091;
&#8083;
ᾫ
ᾣ		 U+1FAB
U+1FA3		 &#8107;
&#8099;
diaeresis ῭ U+1FED &#8173;
—
ῒ		 —
U+1FD2		 —
&#8146;
—
ῢ		 —
U+1FE2		 —
&#8162;

The

capital
forms.

On British and American keyboards, the grave accent is a key by itself. This is primarily used to actually type the stand-alone character, though some layouts (such as US International or UK extended) may use it as a dead key to modify the following letter. (With these layouts, to get a character such as à, the user can type ` and then the vowel. For example, to make à, the user can type ` and then a). In territories where the diacritic is used routinely, the precomposed characters are provided as standard on national keyboards.

On a Mac, to get a character such as à, the user can type ⌥ Option+` and then the vowel. For example, to make à, the user can type ⌥ Option+` and then a, and to make À, the user can type ⌥ Option+` and then ⇧ Shift+a. In iOS and most Android keyboards, combined characters with the grave accent are accessed by holding a finger on the vowel, which opens a menu for accents. For example, to make à, the user can tap and hold a and then tap or slide to à. Mac versions of OS X Mountain Lion (10.8) or newer share similar functionality to iOS; by pressing and holding a vowel key to open an accent menu, the user may click on the grave accented character or type the corresponding number key displayed.

On a system running the X Window System, to get a character such as à, the user should press Compose followed by `, then the vowel. The compose key on modern keyboards is usually mapped to a ⊞ Win key or ⇧ Shift+Alt Gr.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
  2. ^
    Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford Dictionaries Online
    , Oxford University Press.
  3. Ubuntu
    Community Documentation. Retrieved 29 October 2010.

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grave_accent&oldid=1083439356"