the (..) above O and A

Finnish translation: Pisteet o:n ja a:n päällä.

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:the (..) above O and A
Finnish translation:Pisteet o:n ja a:n päällä.

12:06 Jul 18, 2011
    The asker opted for community grading. The question was closed on 2011-07-21 13:54:12 based on peer agreement (or, if there were too few peer comments, asker preference.)


English to Finnish translations [PRO]
Linguistics / Orthography
English term or phrase: the (..) above O and A
What is the name of these two dots over the letters O and A , which make them look like ö and ä?
Ahmed Kamal
Local time: 04:28
Pisteet o:n ja a:n päällä.
Explanation:
This was a question about translation from English into Finnish, and here I answer the question.

In English, by the way, those (..) are called dots.
Selected response from:

Timo Lehtilä
Finland
Local time: 04:28
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5They are known as umlauts (this term come from the German language)
Erkki Pekkinen
4 +1treema / yläpuolinen pistepari / pisteet
Juho Karhu
4Pisteet o:n ja a:n päällä.
Timo Lehtilä
4ääntämistä osoittava merkki; diakriitinen
Desmond O'Rourke
3fricatives
Hannele Marttila


  

Answers


6 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
the (..) above o and a
fricatives


Explanation:
I think...

Hannele Marttila
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:28
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in FinnishFinnish, Native in EnglishEnglish
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33 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
the (..) above o and a
Pisteet o:n ja a:n päällä.


Explanation:
This was a question about translation from English into Finnish, and here I answer the question.

In English, by the way, those (..) are called dots.

Timo Lehtilä
Finland
Local time: 04:28
Works in field
Native speaker of: Finnish
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
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7 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
the (..) above o and a
They are known as umlauts (this term come from the German language)


Explanation:
They are known as umlauts (this term come from the German language) and they are very useful when writing or reading Finnish.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2011-07-18 13:15:13 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

A trema (from the Greek τρῆμα trêma; plural tremas or tremata) is a diacritic consisting of two dots ( ¨ ) placed over a letter, most commonly a vowel. (When that letter is an i, the diacritic replaces the tittle: ï.) The trema is usually used to denote one of two distinct phonological phenomena: diaeresis (pronounced /daɪˈɛrɨsɨs/ dy-err-ə-səs), in which the trema is used to show that a vowel letter is not part of a digraph or diphthong; and umlaut (pronounced /ˈʊmlaʊt/ uum-lowt), in which the trema denotes a sound shift. From WIKIPEDIA

Example sentence(s):
  • The "dots" above the o and a in Finnish are known as umlauts (this term come from the German language) and they are very useful when writing or reading Finnish.
Erkki Pekkinen
Finland
Local time: 04:28
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in FinnishFinnish
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
the (..) above o and a
treema / yläpuolinen pistepari / pisteet


Explanation:
"Treema" or "yläpuolinen pistepari" is the linguistic term for the two dots. You could also say "Pisteet a:n päällä" (as mentioned before by Timo).

Juho Karhu
Finland
Local time: 04:28
Native speaker of: Native in FinnishFinnish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Desmond O'Rourke: My response was too general, Juha is correct
3 hrs
  -> thanks!
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7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
the (..) above o and a
ääntämistä osoittava merkki; diakriitinen


Explanation:
A diacritic is a mark placed over, under or through a letter to denote a sound value different from that of the same letter when unmarked.


    Reference: http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/lang/finnish-letters.html
Desmond O'Rourke
United States
Local time: 22:28
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Juho Karhu: spelling with two t's: "diakriittinen merkki" (aka "tarke") is, afaik, the linguistic term for all the possible marks, while above mentioned "treema" / "yläpuolinen pistepari" would be the correct linguistic term for the dots in question specifically
1 hr
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