Overdot is a term used in phonetics and orthography to indicate a diacritic mark placed above a letter, symbolizing various linguistic features and alterations. The overdot symbol consists of a small dot positioned above the base character it modifies, modifying the sound or meaning associated with that character.
In phonetics, the overdot is frequently used to represent nasalization, a feature present in many languages. The overdot can indicate that a vowel or consonant is produced with nasal airflow, altering the sound quality of the phoneme. For example, in the International Phonetic Alphabet, the letter "ã" is often represented with an overdot above the "a" to indicate nasalization.
In orthography, the overdot may serve different purposes depending on the writing system. In some languages, it can represent tone or stress, indicating the pitch or emphasis of a particular syllable or word. In other cases, it is utilized to mark vowel length or quality distinctions. For instance, in certain transliteration systems, an overdot is used to distinguish a long vowel from a short one, such as in the representation of Arabic.
Overall, the overdot is a versatile diacritic mark that denotes various linguistic elements, including nasalization, stress, tone, and vowel length differentiation, depending on the specific context and writing system in which it is employed.
