Use Of The Circumflex In French
The circumflex (ˆ) is one of the five diacritics used in the French language. It may be used atop the vowels a, e, i, o, and u.
In French, the circumflex has three primary functions:
- It affects the pronunciation of a, e, eu and o; although used on i and u as well, it does not affect their pronunciation.
- It often indicates the historical presence of a letter (commonly s) that has, over the course of linguistic evolution, become silent and fallen away in orthography.
- Less frequently, it is used to distinguish between two homophones (for example, sur versus sûr ).
In certain words, the circumflex is idiopathic, and has no precise linguistic role.
Read more about Use Of The Circumflex In French: First Usages, Indication of A Lost Phoneme, Indication of Greek Omega, Analogical and Idiopathic Cases, Vowel Length and Quality, Distinguishing Homographs, Orthographic Reform
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