What are two dots above an I called?
umlaut
If you’ve ever studied German, you’ve seen an umlaut. It’s a mark that looks like two dots over a letter, and it signifies a shift in pronunciation.
Does naively have an umlaut?
They thought it was an umlaut, which is added to certain vowels in German (usually ö and ü) to change their pronunciation. However, the ï in naïve is not an umlaut – it’s a diaeresis, also known as a hiatus.
Why is a circumflex over the letter ö?
Indicated by the sign ^, it is placed over a vowel to show that the vowel or syllable containing it must be pronounced in a certain way. In French, the vowel so marked has a certain grave and long sound quality. The circumflex accent adds a certain musicality to a word; some would argue it confers poetry to words.
How do you pronounce Zoe with two dots over the e?
It’s a Diaeresis (diacritic) or tréma, so named because it divides up two vowel letters to be pronounced as two syllables, which would otherwise be pronounced together as a single syllable (and typically a single vowel). So Zoë is pronounced Zo-ee, as distinct from rhyming with Joe.
What does the Ë sound like?
The e with a diaresis (ë) is pronounced like the e in ‘bet’. The diaresis is used if the would be pronounced differently with other rules. That is, with the diaresus, the ‘e’ will always be pronounced like the ‘e’ in ‘bet’.
What letters do umlauts go over?
The Letter Ä With Two Dots Is an Umlaut. If you’ve ever wondered what those two dots above an “ä” are about, they’re generally called umlauts. Particularly common in German, they’re used to modify the suggested pronunciation of the letter a.
Why does the New Yorker use Ë?
The New Yorker puts a diaeresis over the repeated vowel in words like cooperate to show that those two o’s are pronounced as two distinct vowels. That is, it was simply a mark that divided two words or two adjacent vowels.