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Jer Clarke (jerclarke@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 22-Oct-2024 00:57:27 JST Jer Clarke

As I learn Spanish (living in Mexico) and discuss English with my Mexican partner, I am constantly reminded what utter junk English spelling and pronunciation are. It's embarrassing to try to explain why words sound like they do.
Spanish is so simple and beautiful to pronounce by comparison, and the relatively predictable use of accents for emphasis is part of it.
Bring back English diaeresis!!!
https://cloudisland.nz/@pjf/113333491105769867
In conversation about 8 months ago from mastodon.social permalink
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  Paul Fenwick (@pjf@cloudisland.nz)
  
  from Paul Fenwick
  
  Today I learnt that two little dots over a vowel in English are used to indicate that vowel is pronounced separately, and not merged into the previous vowel. Examples include words like naïve and Noël, and names like Zoë and Chloë. This use is considered archaic now¹, but given how hard English spelling is, I'd be pretty happy if it were to reënter daily use. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaeresis_(diacritic) — ¹ Unless you're writing for the New Yorker, which uses it with a passion.

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