Re: Y diaeresis

From: Jonathan Rosenne (100320.1303@CompuServe.COM)
Date: Sun Dec 01 1996 - 02:44:53 EST


Keld J|rn Simonsen wrote:
>Well, my information is that it is used in French, a number
>of French names are using the diaeresis to tell that this
>letter is to be pronounced by itself, and not to be combined
>with the preceding vowel. The upper-case form is then used whenever
>the name is all capitalized, as for example on road-signs.

In French and in English, diaeresis may be used over any vowel to indicate it is
not part of a diphthong. This use is very different from the use of the two dots
with similar appearance in other languages were they compound with the letter to
form a new entity. Properly speaking, the two dots should not be called
diaeresis in this case.

Another difference is that the diaeresis is loosely bound to the vowel - it is
normally a question of judgement whether it is necessary or not, and many people
do not consider it as belonging to the spelling of the word.

Jonathan



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