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S.P.E.A.K.

We are the Society for the Promotion of Education and Advancement of Knowledge.


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    Diaeresis

    George
    George
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    Posts : 357
    Join date : 2017-11-26

    Diaeresis Empty Diaeresis

    Post  George Mon 04 Dec 2017, 19:26

    In the spelling of the surname of the Brontë sisters, the pair of dots over the last letter is called a diaeresis. Note that it should be over the letter e, not the letter o – an error for which whoever was responsible for typing the answers on today’s edition of “The Chase” on ITV ought to be ashamed of themselves!



    A diaeresis is used to indicate that a vowel that looks as if it should be silent in the spelling of a word should be pronounced. It looks the same as the German Umlaut – but the latter has a different function, being used over the letters a, o or u (but not e or i) to alter the quality of the vowel sound.

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    Vicky


    Posts : 73
    Join date : 2017-11-27

    Diaeresis Empty Re: Diaeresis

    Post  Vicky Mon 04 Dec 2017, 20:05

    There is a third function of the diaeresis/umlaut (however you wish to call the diacritic): in Swedish, Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian and Turkish, it is used over certain vowels to show that they are not only pronounced differently but also separate letters of the alphabet. The letters are a (Swedish, Finnish, Estonian), o (all of them), and u (Estonian, Hungarian, Turkish).

      Current date/time is Fri 29 Mar 2024, 05:08