diacritical marks WAS Re: Word (Phrase?) of the Year (so far)?; Rambo'd (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Laurence Horn]

On Jan 31, 2013, at 5:07 PM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:

> I always thought the word umlaut was reserved for German; in other
> languages, including the one the New Yorker magazine is written in, the
> word is diaeresis. There is also a difference in meaning -- the vowels with
> an umlaut can also be written with a following 'e', but the diaeresis
> allows for no such convention.
>
> We discussed this here within the last few years.
>
> DanG
>
We probably did, and I probably said then too that the function of the double dots is crucial in distinguishing umlauts from diaereses; the Turkish fronted vowels are much more like the German ones than they are like the vowels in English and French that wear diaereses to show that they're pronounced separately from the preceding vowels.  The o in Söze is not (and is not decorated with) a diaeresis, but rather is an umlauted vowel.  The OED on diaeresis:

1 a. The division of one syllable into two, esp. by the separation of a diphthong into two simple vowels.
   b. The sign [¨] marking such a division, or, more usually, placed over the second of two vowels which otherwise make a diphthong or single sound, to indicate that they are to be pronounced separately.

Nothing of that sort is happening with "Söze".  The question of when the tradition of a following "e" can be used is a separate one; I've never seen that used for Turkish umlauted vowels either, but it may be for all I know.

LH
>
> On Thu, Jan 31, 2013 at 4:50 PM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC <
> Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
>> Subject:      diacritical marks WAS     Re: Word (Phrase?) of the Year (so
>>              far)?; Rambo'd (UNCLASSIFIED)
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>> Caveats: NONE
>>
>>>
>>> The Wikipedia entry for "The Usual Suspects uses the spelling Keyser
>>> Soze with an umlaut over the o. Jonathan Lighter sent a message to the
>>> list on June 2, 2011 about the "Keyser Soeze syndrome" that is
>> somewhat
>>> similar.  Dan Goncharoff sent a message about the "Keyser Soeze
>>> syndrome" which concerns twist endings for films
>>>
>>
>> From my high school German, I remember that an umlaut is the double-dot
>> that goes over o (for the OE sound), the u (UE), and a (AE).  "Keyser
>> Soze" (and the "o" in "Soze" had a double-dot) was a Turkish name, I
>> believe.  Should it still be called an umlaut?  Is "umlaut" the general
>> name for a double-dot mark over a vowel?  (or possibly consonants, as in
>> "Spinal Tap", in which case the "n" had a double-dot?)
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>> Caveats: NONE
>>
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