How can I typeset a quote directly above a period?

Question

Is there a way to typeset a right double quote directly above a period (if the quotation ends with a period)? Not to the left (for example, ."), not to the right (for example, ".), but directly above. The photo below is an example from Trees, maps and, theorems by Jean-luc Doumont.

Answer 1

One way is to add some negative "kerning" between the quotation mark and the period:

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
Here is an unkerned quotation mark: ``\dots''.

Here is a kerned quotation mark: ``\dots''\kern-0.5em.
\end{document}

The TeX command \kern-0.5em inserts a negative space between the quotation mark and the following period. You will have to play a little with the exact spacing, but using a measure like -0.5em which will scale with the font size should work reasonably well.

Automatic Kerning with LuaLaTeX

As others have suggested, you can do this with macros, but if you want to do this automatically, you appear to need to include this kerning information in the font specific kerning table. This can be done with LuaLaTeX as follows:

First create a file: Palatino.fea

languagesystem DFLT dflt;
languagesystem latn dflt;
feature kern {
pos  \quotedblright \period -1000;
} kern;

Now load this font information using fontspec:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont[FeatureFile=Palatino.fea]{Palatino}

\begin{document}
Here is an automatically kerned quotation mark: ``\dots''.

Here is a manually kerned quotation mark: ``\dots''\kern-0.5em.
\end{document}

Note that you need to compile this with lualatex now, and that you will need to add the custom kerning information for every font you would like to use.

Answer 2

I would set this merely as an \rlap-ed period (or, for LaTeX's sense, \makebox[0pt][l]), wrapped in a macro:

\documentclass{article}
\newcommand{\qperiod}{\rlap{.}}
\begin{document}
Some text: ``\dots''.

Some text: ``\dots''

Some text: ``\dots\qperiod''
\end{document}

The macro-wrapping allows for modification globally, when needed.

Answer 3

Here I use a stack. The stacktype is either "L" for Long or "S" for Short (default). If "L", the stacking "distance" is from baseline to baseline. By setting to 0pt, it says that the two components share the same baseline (in contrast, a short stack distance is the vertical gap between the top of the "anchor" and the bottom of the stacked item). The stackalignment defines horizontal alignment (default c=center). Here, I set it for left alignment.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{stackengine}
\renewcommand\stacktype{L}
\renewcommand\stackalignment{l}
\begin{document}
by ``\dots\stackon[0pt]{.}{''}
\end{document}  

The same result can be achieved, bypassing all the parameter settings, by using the generic stackengine macro with 8 mandatory arguments:

by ``\dots\stackengine{0pt}{.}{''}{O}{l}{F}{F}{L}

The eight mandatory arguments are:

• stacking distance
• anchor item
• stacked item
• O(ver) or U(nder) stack
• l(eft) c(enter) or r(ight) horizontal alignment
• T/F for "quietstack" ("T" means created but not printed)
• T/F for "useanchorwidth" ("T" means the anchor width determines the overall stack width)
• S(hort) or L(ong) stack