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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!bellcore!decvax!minow
From: minow@decvax.UUCP (Martin Minow)
Newsgroups: net.internat
Subject: Re: ISO Latin 1 alphabet (umlaut == dieresis)
Message-ID: <176@decvax.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 9-Feb-86 22:17:57 EST
Article-I.D.: decvax.176
Posted: Sun Feb  9 22:17:57 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 11-Feb-86 07:17:40 EST
References: <157@decvax.UUCP> <1166@utai.UUCP> <163@decvax.UUCP> <402@snow.warwick.UUCP> <133@dg_rtp.UUCP>
Reply-To: minow@decvax.UUCP (Martin minow)
Organization: DEC - ULTRIX Engineering Group
Lines: 24

(sigh)

Having started this mess, let me state that the two dots over
vowels (and perhaps y) fulfill different roles (and have different
names).   They define totally distinct vowels in the Scandinavian
and Finnish languages, a vowel modification in German, and a
syllable boundary in English and French.

The technical term for the two dots is "dieresis".

Since I can't spell dieresis (had to look it up) and assumed
the gentle reader would understand (or not care), I used a
more familiar term.  My apologies.

Dieresis is used in English and French to indicate
a syllable break.  Proper journals, such as the New York
Times and the New Yorker, add a dieresis to the second 'o'
of "cooperate" and most readers should be familiar with
"Noel" (Christmas) spelled with dieresis over the 'e'.

Hope this clears things up.

Martin Minow
decvax!minow