sebb wrote:
On 14/01/2008, John Douglas Porter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
From the keyboard of Yanick Champoux [12.01.08,18:50]:
*dieresis* or *diæresis *A diacritical mark (* ¨ *) optionally
used in
English, oftentimes replaced by a hyphen. In English, the dieresis
is used on
a second identical vowel to indicate a change in pronunciation of
that vowel
or indicate it is pronounced in a separate syllable. It is sometimes
referred
to as an « umlaut » when used with a single character or in a «
diphthong. »
Examples: reëlecting, reëncoding, coöperation, coördination.
Also naïf and naïve - non-identical vowels.
But isn't that because these two words are straight lifts from French,
where they have this exact spelling? It's not an English thing in this case.
David
