What is this --> ć --- called?

Question

The whole letter C with the acute accent; is there a specific name for it?

Answer 1

Though unicode denotes this letter as "c acute" that is not quite accurate.

Polish, etc. use this sort of 'acute accent' -- called a kreska (a diacritical mark which is actually even formed slightly differently from the acute)-- to indicate palatalization of a consonant (distinct from the use of the acute accent with vowels). When the sound it indicates appears before a vowel "ci" is used instead. [It is similar, though not identical, to the use in Czech of the wedged-shaped "haček" (also called "caron") over the consonant.]

This mark is used in several Slavic languages which use the Latin alphabet (and added diacritics) for writing. The Serbian and Montenegrin Cyrillic alphabet contains an equivalent letter, which is transcribed into the Latin alphabet by ć.

The Polish letter is called tsie (soft ts). The Serbian Cyrillic equivalent has been called "tshe", though in fact the Serbian alphabet does not name the letter. (Tshe" is a thus a 'provisional name'.)

The sound these letters make is technically described as a "voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate". (Though the sound is not found in English it is fairly close to the "ch" of "chocolate".) [The voiced version is written with a z + kreska... and by the Serbian Cyrllic letter "dje".]


Summary on this letter:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%86

The sound indicated and "palatalization"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_alveolo-palatal_affricate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acute_accent#Palatalization
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatalization
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iotation

The diacritical mark (kreska, compare haček)
http://www.twardoch.com/download/polishhowto/kreska.html
http://dictionary.laborlawtalk.com/hacek#List_of_letters
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caron

The name(s) in Slavic alphabets:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_alphabet
http://home.unilang.org/wiki3/index.php/Latin_alphabet:_letter_names#Polish
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbian_Cyrillic_alphabet#Serbian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tshe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dje

Answer 2

Nope, it's just a c with an acute accent (just a 'á' is an 'a' with an acute accent). It doesn't exist in Spanish and most of Latin languages as far as I know. However, in Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian and Macedonian the letter ć is used to represent a palatalized "t" sound.

Answer 3

ć is a letter in a Polish alphabet (and maybe in some others - I won't say it isn't). It's like a soft c.
In Polish all the verbs in an infinitive end with ć, e.g. być = to be, kochać = love etc.

Answer 4

I don't believe there is, apart from "c accent[ed]", at least not for specific letters, but the marks above/below them. The marks themselves - as "façade" or "resumé" - are known as "diacritical marks" or "accent marks".