Editing Tilde (section)

====International Phonetic Alphabet====
{{uncited section|date=June 2024}}
In [[phonetics]], a tilde is used as a [[IPA diacritics|diacritic that is placed]] above a letter, below it or [[superimpose]]d onto the middle of it:

* A tilde above a letter indicates [[nasalization]], e.g. {{IPA|[ã], [ṽ]}}.
* A tilde superimposed onto the middle of a letter indicates [[velarization]] or [[pharyngealization]], e.g. {{IPA|[ɫ], [z̴]}}. If no precomposed [[Unicode]] character exists, the Unicode character {{unichar|0334| COMBINING TILDE OVERLAY|cwith=◌}} can be used to generate one.
* A tilde below a letter indicates [[Creaky voice|laryngealisation]], e.g. {{IPA|[d̰]}}. If no precomposed Unicode character exists, the Unicode character {{unichar|0330| COMBINING TILDE BELOW|cwith=◌}} can be used to generate one.

A tilde between two [[phoneme]]s indicates optionality, or "alternates with". E.g. {{angbr IPA|ɕ ~ ʃ}} could indicate that the sounds may alternate depending on context ([[free variation]]), or that they vary based on region or speaker, or some other variation.