On Diacritics
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ON DIACRITICS è é ê ë Dennis Kurzon University of Haifa Israel Uploaded on FELA’s www.literacyeurope.org, InitialTeachingEurope -page TYPES OF WRITING SYSTEM Alphabetic: Latin (roman), Greek, Cyrillic Abjad: Arabic, Hebrew Abugida: Hindi, Amharic Featural: Hangul (Korean) Syllabaries (and morphological): Egyptian, Chinese, Japanese (Kanji) Distinction between normal (non-pedagogical) texts and pedagogical texts (language learning/teaching) Diacritics may be used in certain alphabets and abjads to help the learner, and in poetry and liturgy to ensure correct pronunciation. "we need recourse to the principle of opposition (contrast)“ (Wells 2006) Diacritics are "distinguishing marks attached to letters of the alphabet“ (Wells 2006) “diacritics are not used to indicate some phonological feature, but to ensure a contrast between two or more graphemes that have the same basic shape“ (Kurzon 2008) Alphabets ideally use letters (graphemes) to represent the phonemes of the language. Latin – not perfect: 21 graphemes for 26 phonemes (16 consonants and 10 vowels): A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X No distinction in written form between short and long vowels, as in Latin poetry: a ā Vīvāmus, mea Lesbia, atque amēmus, rūmōrēsque senum sevēriōrum omnēs ūnius aestimēmus assis! English, using roman alphabet, has 26 graphemes for 44 phonemes: 24 consonants, 12 vowels and 8 diphthongs. Vowel graphemes often have multiple values, e.g. <e> /e/, /i/, /ə/, zero and to cover several consonant phonemes, digraphs are used: ch /ʧ/, th /θ/ - /ð/, sh /ʃ/ In German, a trigraph is used to indicate /ʃ/ -- <sch> And a quadgraph <tsch> to indicate /ʧ/ in foreign words and names, e.g. <Tschaikowsky> All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. (Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) Tous les êtres humains naissent libres et égaux en dignité et en droits. Ils sont doués de raison et de conscience et doivent agir les uns envers les autres dans un esprit de fraternité. Todos los seres humanos nacen libres e iguales en dignidad y derechos y, dotados como están de razón y conciencia, deben comportarse fraternalmente los unos con los otros. Todos os seres humanos nascem livres e iguais em dignidade e direitos. São dotados de razão e consciência e devem agir em relação uns aos outros com espírito de fraternidade. Toate ființele umane se nasc libere și egale în demnitate și în drepturi. Ele sunt înzestrate cu rațiune și conștiință și trebuie să se comporte unele față de altele în spiritul fraternității. Alle Menschen sind frei und gleich an Würde und Rechten geboren. Sie sind mit Vernunft und Gewissen begabt und sollen einander im Geist der Brüderlichkeit begegnen. Hver maður er borinn frjáls og jafn öðrum að virðingu og réttindum. Menn eru gæddir vitsmunum og samvisku, og ber þeim að breyta bróðurlega hverjum við annan. Všichni lidé se rodí svobodní a sobě rovní co do důstojnosti a práv. Jsou nadáni rozumem a svědomím a mají spolu jednat v duchu bratrství. Wszyscy ludzie rodzą się wolni i równi w swojej godności i prawach. Są obdarzeni rozumem i sumieniem i powinni postępować wobec siebie w duchu braterstwa. Minden emberi lény szabadon születik és egyenlő méltósága és joga van. Az emberek, ésszel és lelkiismerettel bírván, egymással szemben testvéri szellemben kell hogy viseltessenek. Bütün insanlar hür, haysiyet ve haklar bakımından eşit doğarlar. Akıl ve vicdana sahiptirler ve birbirlerine karşı kardeşlik zihniyeti ile hareket etmelidirler. Il-bnedmin kollha jitwieldu ħielsa u ugwali fid-dinjità u d-drittijiet. Huma mogħnija bir-raġuni u bil-kuxjenza u għandhom igibu ruħhom ma' xulxin bi spirtu ta' aħwa. Đừng bỏ lỡ những tin tức quốc tế đáng chú ý nhất 24h qua: Nhà ngoại giao Afghanistan bị nhân viên bảo vệ bắn chết ở Pakistan, Mỹ có thể triển khai chiến hạm tàng hình đối phó Triều Tiên, Hàng trăm triệu người Trung Quốc quay lại thành phố làm việc sau Tết. Modern Greek: παϊδάκια (/pajˈðaca/, "lamb chops") vs. παιδάκια (/peˈðaca/, "little children") Belarussian: Усе людзі нараджаюцца свабоднымі і роўнымі ў сваёй годнасці і правах. Яны надзелены розумам і сумленнем і павінны ставіцца адзін да аднаго ў духу брацтва. Они не ответили на моe письмо. Они не отвéтили на моё письмó. STRESS In Spanish, word stress that does not follow two rules is marked: 1. Words ending in a vowel, <n>, or <s>. the stress is on the penultimate syllable. 2. Words ending in a consonant other than <n>, <s>, the stress falls on the final syllable. e.g. el examen /egzAmen/, but los exámenes Similarly in Italian Italian words are usually stressed on the penultimate syllable When stressed on the final vowel, words have a written accent over that vowel. città “city” perchè “because” <e> may have either acute or grave accent to mark stress: è (open); é (closed) LEXICOGRAPHY Use of diacritics to distinguish homographs Italian da – from or since; dà – he/she gives di – of, from; dì – day, as opposed to night e – and; è – he/she/it is la – the; là – there si – itself, herself, himself; sì – yes ne – some né – nor French a – "has"; à – "to" ou – "or"; où – "where" sur – "on"; sûr – "sure" Use of Circumflex Historical development: as in fête ("party"), from Old French feste and Latin festum and words derived from Greek: <ô> may indicate that the original Greek had an omega <ω>, e.g. Gr. δίπλωμα French diplôme Spanish si – "if"; sí – "yes" como – "as" (adv., prep); ¿cómo? – "how?" Catalan bé – "good, well" be – "lamb" dóna – "s/he gives" dona – "woman" déu – “god" deu – "ten" mà – "hand" ma – "my" (fem.) què – "what?" que – "which" (rel. conj) nét – "grandson" net – "clean" té – "s/he has" te – "tea" Afrikaans òf... òf – either...or of – or nòg... nòg – neither... nor nog – again, still Dutch één appel – one apple een appel – an apple vóórkomen – to occur voorkómen – to prevent Use of diacritics in Arabic and Hebrew – in my FELA-IDEC presentation on Wednesday THÂNK YÒÜ.