Re: alfa-digest V8 #39

[maxid@domain.elided]

In # 39, John H. states: "The umlaut at least has an internationally recognized name, (two, actually, given the diaeresis option)" 

I am sure John knows, but it is not clear from the message that the umlaut and the diaeresis are not exactly the same. The umlaut is used in German to modify the sound of a vowel (a, o, or u), while the diaeresis is used in especially Romance languages and English to indicate that a vowel in a diphtong is pronounced in a separate syllable, like for example in "naive" (two dots over the i, but they won't show up in ASCII), "cooperation" (occasionally spelled with two dots over the second o), "Citroen" (two dots over the e), Guell (Famous Barcelona family with a diaeresis over the u to symbolize that it is pronounced, which is not generally the case after a "g" in Spanish). Bronte has dots over the "e" but I guess an acute accent would have done the job. Anyone on the list well versed in German may be able to inform me how one would refer in German to the diacritical mark above the e in Ferdinand Piech's last name; from what I know it is a diaeresis, not an umlaut.
Cheers,
Sonny

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