We covered the five accent/graphical marks in French today.
Le tréma (
naïf, Noël, Israël,
canoë,
coïncider) gets me excited, because it gives me a chance to say
diaeresis in class (kids remember these things!). I also dig
le tréma because it appears in English as well and thus provides at least a semi-familiar example to show students the exceptional vowel pronunciation the symbol indicates. The obvious example—perhaps the only familiar example— is
naïve. But I still recall reading an old edition of some novel and encountering
coöoperate... or was
it reëlection?
I got to wondering if I could find a list of English words that use the trema. Here are a few
from Wikipedia:
- reënact
- zoölogy
- seër
- Chloë
- Zoë
- Brontë
- Boötes
If you know of any others, do submit!
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