My increasingly-convoluted keyboard shortcut system for special characters
Modified March 25, 2019
Get the .ahk file for special characters, Greek, and Cyrillic here
Get the .ahk file for Hiragana and Katakana here
(The IPA one isn't ready for public consumption yet, sorry!)
Microsoft Word has a few keyboard shortcuts based on what they call prefix keys. For example, pressing Ctrl and ' is a prefix key for adding acute accents, such as áéíóú. The same functionality is present for Ctrl and ` (grave accent), and Ctrl and ~.
Ctrl + ', a → á
Ctrl + `, o → à
Ctrl + ~, n → ñ
Microsoft Word's prefix keys are incomplete--what if I want to write about the historic Polish princess Świętosława? Or Czech inventor Josef Průša? So I opened up AutoHotKey and made my own, incorporating as many Unicode characters as I could, regardless of usefulness. I hope it's clear why certain symbols are under certain prefix keys; the exception is the Ctrl + / prefix, which I saved for the odds and ends that I personally found useful in one or more college classes.
My original table
| Acute accent Ctrl + ' |
Grave accent Ctrl + ` |
Double-acute accent Ctrl + " |
Tilde and "dark l" Ctrl + ~ |
Umlaut or diaeresis Ctrl + : |
Circumflex Ctrl + ^ |
Hacek or caron Ctrl+& |
Ring or loop Ctrl + @ |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aa | Áá | Àà | Ãã | Ää | Ââ | Ǎǎ | Åå | |
| Bb | ||||||||
| Cc | Ćć | Ĉĉ | Čč | ɕ | ||||
| Dd | Ďď | ȡ | ||||||
| Ee | Éé | Èè | Ẽẽ | Ëë | Êê | Ěě | ||
| Ff | ||||||||
| Gg | Ǵǵ | Ĝĝ | Ǧǧ | |||||
| Hh | Ḧḧ | Ȟȟ | ||||||
| Ii | Íí | Ìì | Ĩĩ | Ïï | Îî | Ǐǐ | ||
| Jj | Ĵĵ | ʝ | ||||||
| Kk | Ḱḱ | Ǩǩ | ||||||
| Ll | ɫ | ȴ | ||||||
| Mm | Ḿḿ | |||||||
| Nn | Ńń | Ññ | Ňň | ȵ | ||||
| Oo | Óó | Òò | Őő | Õõ | Öö | Ôô | Ǒǒ | ⱺ |
| Pp | Ṕṕ | |||||||
| Rr | Řř | |||||||
| Ss | Śś | Ŝŝ | Šš | |||||
| Tt | ẗ | ȶ | ||||||
| Uu | Úú | Ùù | Űű | Ũũ | Üü | Ûû | Ǔǔ | Ůů |
| Vv | Ṽṽ | ⱴ | ||||||
| Ww | Ẃẃ | Ẁẁ | Ẅẅ | Ŵŵ | ẘ | |||
| Xx | Ẍẍ | ɣ | ||||||
| Yy | Ýý | Ỳỳ | Ÿÿ | Ŷŷ | ẙ | |||
| Zz | Ẑẑ | Žž | ʑ | |||||
| !? | ¡¿ | |||||||
| Spacebar | (combining acute accent) | (combining grave accent) | (combining double acute accent) | (combining tilde) | (combining diaeresis) | (combining circumflex accent) | (combining caron) | (combining ring above) |
| Cedilla Ctrl + , |
Ogonek Ctrl + < |
Dot above Ctrl + . |
Dot below Ctrl + > |
Breve Ctrl+) |
Inverted breve Ctrl + ( |
Macron above or below Ctrl + _ |
Useful odds and ends Ctrl + / |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aa | Ąą | Ȧȧ | Ạạ | Ăă | Ȃȃ | Āā | Ææ | |
| Bb | Ḃḃ | Ḅḅ | Ḇḇ | |||||
| Cc | Çç | Ċċ | ©¢ | |||||
| Dd | Ḋḋ | Ḍḍ | Ḏḏ | Ðð | ||||
| Ee | Ȩȩ | Ęę | Ėė | Ẹẹ | Ĕĕ | Ȇȇ | Ēē | €ə |
| Ff | Ḟḟ | flfi | ||||||
| Gg | Ģģ | Ġġ | Ğğ | Ḡḡ | ɡ | |||
| Hh | Ḣḣ | Ḥḥ | Ḫḫ | Ħħ | ||||
| Ii | Įį | İı | Ịị | Ĭĭ | Ȋȋ | Īī | İı | |
| Jj | ȷ | |||||||
| Kk | Ķķ | Ḳḳ | Ḵḵ | |||||
| Ll | Ļļ | Ŀŀ | Ḷḷ | Ḻḻ | Łł | |||
| Mm | Ṁṁ | Ṃṃ | ||||||
| Nn | Ņņ | Ṅṅ | Ṇṇ | Ṉṉ | Ŋŋ | |||
| Oo | Ǫǫ | Ȯȯ | Ọọ | Ŏŏ | Ȏȏ | Ōō | Œœ | |
| Pp | Ṗṗ | ¶§ | ||||||
| Rr | Ŗŗ | Ṙṙ | Ṛṛ | Ȓȓ | Ṟṟ | ®₽ | ||
| Ss | Șș | Ṡṡ | Ṣṣ | ʃß | ||||
| Tt | Țț | Ṫṫ | Ṭṭ | Ṯṯ | Þþ | |||
| Uu | Ųų | Ụụ | Ŭŭ | Ȗȗ | Ūū | Øø | ||
| Vv | Ṿṿ | |||||||
| Ww | Ẇẇ | Ẉẉ | Ƿƿ | |||||
| Xx | Ẋẋ | |||||||
| Yy | Ẏẏ | Ỵỵ | Ȳȳ | Ȝȝ | ||||
| Zz | Żż | Ẓẓ | Ẕẕ | ʒ | ||||
| !?:'.0$ | ‽ʔːˈ·∅£ | |||||||
| Spacebar | (combining cedilla below) | (combining ogonek below) | (combining dot above) | (combining dot below) | (combining breve) | (combining inverted breve) | (combining macron below) | (combining macron above) |
Going even further - Greek and Cyrillic
There are enough other prefix keys available that I don't have to stop at Roman-alphabet diacritics. How about Greek and Cyrillic alphabets? Now, to fit all the characters and variants (and still make them memorable enough for me to use them), I had to use more than one keystroke for the prefix.
| Greek Ctrl + $ |
Greek extra Ctrl + $, Space |
Cyrillic Ctrl + % |
Cyrillic extra Ctrl + %, Space |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aa | Αα | Аа | ||
| Bb | Ββ | ϐ | Бб | |
| Cc | Χχ | Ϲϲ | Цц | Чч |
| Dd | Δδ | Дд | Ђђ | |
| Ee | Εε | ϵ | Ее | Єє |
| Ff | Φφ | ϕ | Фф | |
| Gg | Γγ | Гг | Џџ | |
| Hh | Ηη | Ⱶⱶ | Ыы | Ьь |
| Ii | Ιι | Ии | Іі | |
| Jj | Йй | Јј | ||
| Kk | Κκ | ϰ | Кк | |
| Ll | Λλ | Лл | ||
| Mm | Μμ | Ϡϡ | Мм | |
| Nn | Νν | Ϻϻ | Нн | Њњ |
| Oo | Οο | Оо | Ёё | |
| Pp | Ππ | ϖ | Пп | |
| Θθ | ϴϑ | Ъъ | ||
| Rr | Ρρ | ϱ | Рр | |
| Ss | Σσ | ς | Сс | Шш |
| Tt | Ττ | Ϛϛ | Тт | Щщ |
| Uu | Υυ | ϒ | Уу | Юю |
| Vv | Вв | |||
| Ww | Ωω | Ϝϝ | ||
| Xx | Ξξ | Хх | ||
| Yy | Ψψ | Ээ | Яя | |
| Zz | Ζζ | Зз | Жж | |
| !1 | Ϙϙ | Ϟϟ | ||
| & | ϗ | Ϗ |
Even furtherer - Japanese kana
I don't have a great way to portray this in a table, but Ctrl + { and Ctrl + } prefix hiragana and katakana, respectively. Follow the prefix with any romaji—a for あ and ア, pa for ぱ and パ, sho for しょ and ショ, and so on.
The furthererest I've gone - IPA symbols and diacritics
There are over 150 symbols and diacritics in IPA proper, plus more for disused symbols (like ʇ, ʗ, and ʖ) as well as extensions (like ʬ and ʭ for disordered speech). I'm still thinking of logical ways to quickly access any of them (suggestions are welcome!); for now I am using Ctrl + !, followed by a five-letter sequence described below.
To type a standard pulmonic consonant:
- The first letter of the sequence is either u or v, for unvoiced or voiced.
- The next two letters are a two-letter abbreviation for the place of articulation: bi - bilabial, la - labiodental, de - dental, al - alveolar, po - postalveolar (palato-alveolar), re - retroflex, ap - alveolopalatal, pa - palatal, ve - velar, uv - uvular, ph - pharyngeal, gl - glottal, lv - labialized velar, lp - labialized palatal.
- The final two letters are a two-letter abbreviation for the manner of articulation: na - nasal, pl - plosive, fr - fricative, ap - approximant, ta - tap/flap, tr - trill, lf - lateral fricative, la - lateral approximant, lt - lateral tap/flap, af - affricate.
bilabial | labiodental | dental | alveolar | postalveolar | retroflex | alveolopalatal | palatal | velar | uvular | pharyngeal | glottal | labialized velar | labialized palatal |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nasal | m̥m | ɱ̥ɱ | n̥n | ɳ̊ɳ | ɲ̊ɲ | ŋ̊ŋ | ɴ̥ɴ | |||||||
| plosive | pb | td | ʈɖ | cɟ | kg | qɢ | ʡ | ʔ | ||||||
| trill | ʙ̥ʙ | r̥r | ɽ̊͜ɽ̊ ɽ͜ɽ | ʀ̥ʀ | ʜʢ | |||||||||
| tap/flap | ⱱ | ɾ̥ɾ | ɽ̊ɽ | |||||||||||
| fricative | ɸβ | fv | θð | sz | ʃʒ | ʂʐ | ɕʑ | çʝ | xɣ | χʁ | ħʕ | hɦ | ||
| lateral fricative | ɬɮ | |||||||||||||
| approximant | ʋ̥ʋ | ɹ̥ɹ | ɻ̊ɻ | j̊j | ɰ̊ɰ | ʔ̞ | ʍw | ɥ | ||||||
| lateral approximant | l̥l | ɭ̊ɭ | ʎ̥ʎ | ʟ̥ʟ | ||||||||||
| lateral tap/flap | ɺ |
To type a nonpulmonic consonant:
- The first two letters are the place of articulation, abbreviated the same as for pulmonic consonants.
- The last three letters are imp for implosive consonants and cli for click consonants.
bilabial | dental | alveolar | postalveolar | alveolopalatal | palatal | velar | uvular |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| click | ʘ | ǀ | ǁ | ǃ | ǂ | |||
| implosive | ɓ | ɗ | ɗ | ʄ | ɠ | ʛ |
To type a vowel:
- The first two letters are the two-letter abbreviation for tongue height: cl - close, nc - near-close, cm - close-mid, md - mid, om - open-mid, no - near-open, op - open.
- The next two letters are the abbreviation for tongue backness: fr - front, nf - near-front, ce - central, nb - near-back, ba - back.
- The fifth and final letter is r for rounded vowels, u for unrounded vowels, or l for the lax vowels ə and ɐ.
front | central | back |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| close | iy | ɨʉ | ɯu |
| near close | ɪʏ | ɪ̈ʊ̈ | ɯ̽ʊ |
| close-mid | eø | ɘɵ | ɤo |
| mid | e̞ø̞ | ə | ɤ̞o̞ |
| open-mid | ɛœ | ɜɞ | ʌɔ |
| near open | æ | ɐ | |
| open | aɶ | äɒ̈ | ɑɒ |
To type a modifying symbol or diacritic:
- Press Space, then type the first five letters of whatever modifier you want. For example, creak for the creaky voice modifier, lingu for linguolabialization, and apica for apical modifier.
- Some diacritics can go above or below a glyph. By default, they'll go below the letter. If you want it to go above the glyph, write up before the rest of the command. For example, upsylla for the syllabic modifier above the glyph, upunvoi for the unvoicing modifier above the glyph.