Diaeresis (diacritic) - Diaeresis

Diaeresis

The diaeresis indicates that two adjoining letters that would normally form a digraph and be pronounced as one are instead to be read as separate vowels in two syllables. The diaeresis indicates that a vowel should be pronounced apart from the letter that precedes it. For example, in the spelling coöperate, the diaeresis reminds the reader that the word has four syllables co-op-er-ate, not three, *coop-er-ate. In British English this usage has been obsolete for many years, and in US English, although it persisted for longer, it is also now considered archaic. Nevertheless, it is still used by the US magazine The New Yorker. Languages such as Dutch, Catalan, French, and Spanish make regular use of the diaeresis.