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Diaeresis
In linguistics, '''diaeresis''', or '''dieresis''', is the pronunciation of two adjacent vowels in two separate syllables rather than as a diphthong - and also the name of the diacritic mark ( ¨ ) which can be used to indicate this.
The word ''diaeresis'' comes from Greek language|Greek διαίρεσις ''diairesis'', noun from verb ''diairein'', and an example is the first two vowels in the word ''cooperate''. This word might also be spelled spelled ''co-operate'' or, using the diaeresis symbol, ''coöperate''. However the use of the diaeresis symbol is increasingly uncommon in modern English usage—with The New Yorker#Style|The New Yorker,[http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19981209] being a prominent exception.
The opposite phenomenon is known as ''synaeresis''.
Orthography
The ''diaeresis''is a diacritic mark ( ¨ ) used in English to indicate that two adjacent vowels are to be pronounced separately[Bringhurst, p 306.] as in ''Noël'' and ''naïve'', the names ''Zoë'' and ''Chloë'' and words like ''reënter'' and ''coöperate''. Despite its long history in English, the diaeresis symbol is increasingly uncommon in modern English usage—with The New Yorker#Style|The New Yorker[http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19981209] being a prominent exception.
Dutch language|Dutch uses the same mark in a similar way, (for example ''coëfficiënt''), but as with English there is now a preference for hyphenation - so ''zeeëend'' (seaduck) is now spelled ''zee-eend''http://www.translation-services-usa.com/dutch_writing_system.shtml.
Other languages indicate phonological diaeresis with different diacritics, such as the acute accent in Spanish language|Spanish and Portuguese language|Portuguese. For example, the Portuguese words ''saia'' "skirt" and ''saía'' "I used to leave" (Brazilian Portuguese|Brazilian pronunciation) differ in that the sequence forms a diphthong in the former (synaeresis), but is a hiatus in the latter (diaeresis).
The ''diaeresis'' diacritic mark is unrelated to the often identical-looking umlaut (diacritic)|umlaut in German, and the decorative "heavy metal umlaut" of bands such as Blue Öyster Cult.
Notes
References
- Bringhurst, Robert (1992 2004). ''The Elements of Typographic Style, version 3.0''. Vancouver, Hartley & Marks. ISBN 0-88179-133-4.
See also
- Hiatus (linguistics)
- Pausa
- Synaeresis
- Syllable
- Diphthong
Category:Figures of speech
Category:Phonetics
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Sources: StartLearningNow, Wikipedia | Usage license: GNU FDL
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