Diaeresis in English ortography

[jal]

I recently encountered this article, which uses "reëstablished" with a diaeresis. I've never seen this before - is this as uncommon as I think it is? Is it proper English ortography at all?


JAL

[sirdanilot]

I think it's more archaic than anything else. Re-established is the current orthography. The use of slightly archaïc spelling can help emphasize the eloquence and literacy of the writer.

[Valdeut]

It is quite famously part of the style of the The New Yorker:
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultur ... -diaeresis

[jal]

It is quite famously part of the style of the The New Yorker

Right. Idiots... And thanks.


JAL

[Zaarin]

As sirdanilot said, it's mostly an older custom. You'll also see spellings like "coöperation." Most modern printings even of older works will leave out the diaeresis; I don't think even Tolkien uses them.

[Fixsme]

The author should have worked more on the matter and less on diaeresis. To me, this article is rubbish: his facts are wrong.

Though I didn't know about the ë in English, I will sleep less stupid tonight.

[sirdanilot]

As sirdanilot said, it's mostly an older custom. You'll also see spellings like "coöperation." Most modern printings even of older works will leave out the diaeresis; I don't think even Tolkien uses them.

except for the elven names of course

Also the writer Brontë is an example of diaeresis though I don't know where the name comes from originally.

[Zaarin]

As sirdanilot said, it's mostly an older custom. You'll also see spellings like "coöperation." Most modern printings even of older works will leave out the diaeresis; I don't think even Tolkien uses them.

except for the elven names of course

Also the writer Brontë is an example of diaeresis though I don't know where the name comes from originally.

Yes, though Tolkien's Elvish <ë> and the <ë> in the Sisters Brontë are to indicate a pronounced final e rather than to distinguish a diphthong or pronounced double vowel; Tolkien doesn't use the diaeresis for the latter. According to Wikipedia the Brontës were of Irish origin and the diaeresis was apparently added by their father for unknown reasons (beyond the obvious of indicated the name has two syllables).

[ObsequiousNewt]

Yes, though Tolkien's Elvish <ë> and the <ë> in the Sisters Brontë are to indicate a pronounced final e rather than to distinguish a diphthong or pronounced double vowel; Tolkien doesn't use the diaeresis for the latter.

He uses it in ëa, ëo, öe. Although, given that there aren't any such diphthongs, what purpose this serves is beyond me.

[Xephyr]

Yes, though Tolkien's Elvish <ë> and the <ë> in the Sisters Brontë are to indicate a pronounced final e rather than to distinguish a diphthong or pronounced double vowel; Tolkien doesn't use the diaeresis for the latter.

He uses it in ëa, ëo, öe. Although, given that there aren't any such diphthongs, what purpose this serves is beyond me.

It's use there is the same as its use in other Tolkien names and in the names "Brontë" and "Anaïs" and in words like "coöperate" and "reëstablish"-- they all indicate that a vowel is pronounced independently. This is the normal use of the diaeresis diacritic in English.

[ObsequiousNewt]

Yes, though Tolkien's Elvish <ë> and the <ë> in the Sisters Brontë are to indicate a pronounced final e rather than to distinguish a diphthong or pronounced double vowel; Tolkien doesn't use the diaeresis for the latter.

He uses it in ëa, ëo, öe. Although, given that there aren't any such diphthongs, what purpose this serves is beyond me.

It's use there is the same as its use in other Tolkien names and in the names "Brontë" and "Anaïs" and in words like "coöperate" and "reëstablish"-- they all indicate that a vowel is pronounced independently. This is the normal use of the diaeresis diacritic in English.

But English doesn't have ⟨eo⟩. The worst I'd think people would mispronounce e.g. Eol is /iːɔl/, which is probably about what they'd pronounce Eöl anyway.

[zompist]

He uses it in ëa, ëo, öe. Although, given that there aren't any such diphthongs, what purpose this serves is beyond me.

It's nothing to do with diphthongs-- it's as Xephyr says, it means the vowel is pronounced separately.

And all three sequences occur in English: bread, meat, gorgeous, leopard, goes, shoe.

[ObsequiousNewt]

He uses it in ëa, ëo, öe. Although, given that there aren't any such diphthongs, what purpose this serves is beyond me.

It's nothing to do with diphthongs-- it's as Xephyr says, it means the vowel is pronounced separately.

And all three sequences occur in English: bread, meat, gorgeous, leopard, goes, shoe.

No, I mean, there's no diphthongs spelled ⟨ea eo oe⟩ in Quenya. The question is: why are those three marked with a diaeresis, and not, say, ⟨oa⟩? That's more likely to be confused than ⟨oe⟩ (which actually only gets marked in one word in Quenya AFAIK, and it's not a final position; so your last example doesn't apply, and the other two English examples of ⟨oe⟩ are pretty irregular. As well as "gorgeous" which really isn't a diphthong as much as silent e + ou.)

[zompist]

I assumed it was for English speakers, not Elvish ones. I imagine it only took one hearing of /ˈi rən dɪl/ to get Tolkien to spell it Eärendil.

[Salmoneus]

Following up on Cev's remark - the diaeresis is still commonly used in English. It just isn't still commonly used where the two vowels have come together across a morpheme boundary. You do still see it in unusual names - Brontë, Anaïs, Thaïs, Laocoön, traditionally Boeötia; names like Chloë and Zoë often drop the diaeresis these days but they're still very often seen with them (it can be a marker of class - Zoë is likely to be from a better family than plain Zoe). There are also some words that are often found with the diaeresis, of which the most common I think is 'naïve'.

[Zaarin]

I assumed it was for English speakers, not Elvish ones. I imagine it only took one hearing of /ˈi rən dɪl/ to get Tolkien to spell it Eärendil.

Especially since the Elves would have spelled it with Cirth or Tengwar, depending on the time frame.

[Pole, the]

I assumed it was for English speakers, not Elvish ones. I imagine it only took one hearing of /ˈi rən dɪl/ to get Tolkien to spell it Eärendil.

If it was meant for English speakers, then it ought to rather be spelt “Eh-ah-REHN-deel”.

[pdusen]

Until this thread, I have never seen a diaeresis used in English, so I think calling it common is probably overstating the matter.

Still, it's cool to know about.

[sirdanilot]

I think I have seen 'naïve' very occasionally though not using the dots is way more common.I think.

I suppose that there aren't too many languages commonly using the Latin script that virtually never use any form of diacritics. Mostly austronesian languages like Bahasa Indonesia and languages with very small phoneme inventories like Hawai'i I think (though then they do use a fest of apostrophes for the glottal stops). Dutch is relatively poor in diacritics use but makes extensive use of diaeresis marks, and retains diacritics mostly when borrowing words from languages like French.

[Zaarin]

I think I have seen 'naïve' very occasionally though not using the dots is way more common.I think.

I suppose that there aren't too many languages commonly using the Latin script that virtually never use any form of diacritics. Mostly austronesian languages like Bahasa Indonesia and languages with very small phoneme inventories like Hawai'i I think (though then they do use a fest of apostrophes for the glottal stops). Dutch is relatively poor in diacritics use but makes extensive use of diaeresis marks, and retains diacritics mostly when borrowing words from languages like French.

In common use perhaps, but in most forms of publication I generally see the diacritic included on such words as "naïve" and "café," at least here in the US. Or perhaps it's just the printed publications I tend to read. At any rate, I see such words with diacritics included quite commonly.

[jal]

Dutch is relatively poor in diacritics use but makes extensive use of diaeresis marks

I wouldn't say "extensive". Yes, it is used, but there aren't *that* many words that have colliding vowels, plus after the spelling reform of '95 (or the likes), compounds no longer get the diaeresis but a hyphen instead.


JAL

[Tropylium]

theäter
reälity
beaütiful
fluïd

[jal]

fluïd

The others I understand, but why fluid? There's no "ui" in English otherwise, is there?


JAL

[linguoboy]

fluïd

The others I understand, but why fluid? There's no "ui" in English otherwise, is there?

Sure there is. It can be /wi/ as in quilt, /ai/ as in guile, /uw/ as in bruise, or /i/ as in biscuit, among other possibilities.

[Zaarin]

theäter
reälity
beaütiful
fluïd

...Are these really a thing? I may have seen "theäter" before somewhere, but the other's look like heavy metal umlauts or the name of a pretentious club or salon...