Universal method to combine diacritical mark ˇ with [sz]?

Question

I cannot combine the hat-pointing-down ˇ with [a-zA-z] but mostly [sz]. Pseudocode

\[hat-pointing-down][sz]

Most probable packages

\documentclass{aritcle}
\usepackage{fontspec}

\begin{document}
% character here
\end{document}

Unsuccessful attempts

\ˇ{Z}

How can you type the general character of hat-pointing-down?

Answer 1

The traditional way to get the “háček” diacritic is \v{} - but this does not look good with fontspec without choosing a particular font)

Using \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} or XeLaTeX the “háček” diacritic can be typed directly, for example U+0161 for š.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}

\begin{document}
\v{a}
\v{b}
\v{c}
\v{d}
\end{document}

Answer 2

The best way is, of course, typing directly š or ž, which many keyboard layouts allow.

Otherwise you can use the standard commands:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{fontspec}

\newcommand{\ha}{% don't bother with this, it's just for showing the code
  \begingroup\catcode`\v=12 \catcode`\c=12 \haa
}
\newcommand\haa[1]{%
  \texttt{\detokenize{#1}}:~#1\endgroup
}

\begin{document}

The háček (Czech), āķis (Latvian), kablys (Lithuanian),
háčik (Slovak), kavelj (Slovene), kuka (Croatian and Serbian)
can be obtained with \TeX{} by prefixing the character
with \verb|\v|:
\begin{center}
\ha{\v{C}}\quad
\ha{\v{c}}\quad
\ha{\v{D}}\quad
\ha{\v{d}}\quad
\ha{\v{E}}\quad
\ha{\v{e}}\quad
\ha{\v{L}}\quad
\ha{\v{l}}\quad
\ha{\v{N}}\quad
\ha{\v{n}}\quad
\ha{\v{R}}\quad
\ha{\v{r}}\quad
\ha{\v{S}}\quad
\ha{\v{s}}\quad
\ha{\v{T}}\quad
\ha{\v{t}}\quad
\ha{\v{Z}}\quad
\ha{\v{z}}
\end{center}

Note that \texttt{fontspec} is able to use the correct
realization of the diacritic in certain combinations.

For the Latvian alphabet, you can do
\begin{center}
\ha{\={A}}\quad
\ha{\={a}}\quad
\ha{\v{C}}\quad
\ha{\v{c}}\quad
\ha{\={E}}\quad
\ha{\={e}}\quad
\ha{\c{G}}\quad
\ha{\c{g}}\quad
\ha{\={I}}\quad
\ha{\={i}}\quad
\ha{\c{K}}\quad
\ha{\c{k}}\quad
\ha{\c{L}}\quad
\ha{\c{l}}\quad
\ha{\c{N}}\quad
\ha{\c{n}}\quad
\ha{\v{S}}\quad
\ha{\v{s}}\quad
\ha{\={U}}\quad
\ha{\={u}}\quad
\ha{\v{Z}}\quad
\ha{\v{z}}
\end{center}
\end{document}

However, since the Dvorak keyboard allows typing ˇ (Alt-Shift-t), ¯ (Alt-Shift-,) and ¸ (Alt-Shift-z), you can also use newunicodechar:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{fontspec}

% define the prefixes
\usepackage{newunicodechar}
\newunicodechar{ˇ}{\v}
\newunicodechar{¯}{\=}
\newunicodechar{¸}{\c}

\newcommand{\ha}[1]{% don't bother with this, it's just for showing the code
  \texttt{\detokenize{#1}}:~#1%
}

\begin{document}

The háček (Czech), āķis (Latvian), kablys (Lithuanian),
háčik (Slovak), kavelj (Slovene), kuka (Croatian and Serbian)
can be obtained with \TeX{} by prefixing the character
with \verb|ˇ|:
\begin{center}
\ha{ˇC}\quad
\ha{ˇc}\quad
\ha{ˇD}\quad
\ha{ˇd}\quad
\ha{ˇE}\quad
\ha{ˇe}\quad
\ha{ˇL}\quad
\ha{ˇl}\quad
\ha{ˇN}\quad
\ha{ˇn}\quad
\ha{ˇR}\quad
\ha{ˇr}\quad
\ha{ˇS}\quad
\ha{ˇs}\quad
\ha{ˇT}\quad
\ha{ˇt}\quad
\ha{ˇZ}\quad
\ha{ˇz}
\end{center}

Note that \texttt{fontspec} is able to use the correct
realization of the diacritic in certain combinations.

For the Latvian alphabet, you can do
\begin{center}
\ha{¯A}\quad
\ha{¯a}\quad
\ha{ˇC}\quad
\ha{ˇc}\quad
\ha{¯E}\quad
\ha{¯e}\quad
\ha{¸G}\quad
\ha{¸g}\quad
\ha{¯I}\quad
\ha{¯i}\quad
\ha{¸K}\quad
\ha{¸k}\quad
\ha{¸L}\quad
\ha{¸l}\quad
\ha{¸N}\quad
\ha{¸n}\quad
\ha{ˇS}\quad
\ha{ˇs}\quad
\ha{¯U}\quad
\ha{¯u}\quad
\ha{ˇZ}\quad
\ha{ˇz}
\end{center}
\end{document}