In Estonian orthography, what diacritic marks the distinctive back unrounded vowel represented by the letter Õ?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: D. Tilde
- Step 1: The letter Õ represents the close-mid back unrounded vowel [ɤ]. Step 2. Otto Wilhelm Masing introduced the letter Õ with a tilde in 1816 to distinguish this sound from Ö and O in written Estonian. Answer: Tilde. Why not the others: Umlaut appears on Ä, Ö, and Ü; macron is used in Latvian; caron appears on Š and Ž in loanwords.
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