Umlaut or Diaeresis?
Carol from East Bay
asked about the double dots used above some vowels, such as Häagen-Dazs. Though they look identical, there
are two different elements that use these dots: the umlaut and the diaeresis.
The umlaut [Ger.
changed sound] is strongly Germanic and changes the sound of a vowel. The
sound change may also involve a change in meaning: schon means already, but schön means beautiful. Two other examples are Kurt Gödel and über.
The
diaeresis [Gr. divide] is used when
two vowels sit side by side and are meant to be pronounced separately: naïve, Laocoön,
preëmptive, coöperation, Noël. Many publications have
stopped using this mark in common words, the thought being that few people will
pronounce cooperation, for instance, as if it were a chicken coop.
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