I’m guessing you guys are familiar with these letter modifications (1 Viewer)

[Ahsoka]

Two dots over letters. Like ï in naïve, or in certain German words like Käse or fünf (not exclusively German ofc, but I think people are more familiar with German having them). But did you know that in a way, the ï in naïve has a function opposite to the ä in Käse or the ü in fünf?

The ï in naïve is an example of a diaeresis. Found in a variety of languages, such as French, old Indonesian, and Hatian creole, these two dots symbolize that the vowel sound should not blend with the vowel sound before. For example, in naïve, it’s pronounced na-yeve, not the same as knave (because ai pairs in English can make the ay sound, like in sail). Diaeresis marks don’t have to be two dots over the vowel, but today I’m focusing on those.

Umlauts on the other hand, show that a letters sound should be pronounced differently than standard. Following the German example, the umlaut in Käse shows that the a shouldn’t be pronounced like an ah sound, but more like an eh sound like in bet. It’s found in a variety of languages, like Swedish, Turkish, and Mongolian. The history over how it came to be, and why the two dots, in interesting though. Originally, Germanic languages would denote the merging of two vowel sounds by placing the second vowel above the first, especially common with an e as the second. This would show that the vowels would make one blended sound, rather than two distinct sounds. Over time, the handwriting got sloppier, and the e over the vowel became just two dots.

So in a way, these are opposites, despite the same notation. The diaeresis shows to split vowel sounds, while the umlaut originates from vowels being blended together into one sound. Same notation, but definitely not the same meaning

Bonus fun fact: ñ was also formed like umlauts. It used to be an n over another n, but became a squiggle.

 

[seungfloral]

Idk cuz we have it in hungarian
Örülök , on o and u usually

 

[dark_tranquility]

A nice history lesson once again!

 

[uran]

I like muscles like what @snsd2beg has

 

[Ahsoka]

Idk cuz we have it in hungarian
Örülök , on o and u usually

Yes, I believe that in Hungarian they’re umlauts Which are the more common of the two

 

[Pirioca]

English Rock/Metal bands like Blue Öyster Cult, Motörhead, The Accüsed, Mötley Crüe used Umlauts for whatever reason. Funnily enough the band Queensrÿche (always known as one of the most intellectual Metal bands) used them wrong, there is no 'ÿ' in German (or any other?) language.

 

[Ahsoka]

English Rock/Metal bands like Blue Öyster Cult, Motörhead, The Accüsed, Mötley Crüe used Umlauts for whatever reason. Funnily enough the band Queensrÿche (always known as one of the most intellectual Metal bands) used them wrong, there is no 'ÿ' in German (or any other?) language.

Yeah it’s common for people to use two dots just for artistic reasons, rather than using them correctly. Oftentimes it’s to make themselves seem more German or Dutch. Ÿ doesn’t exist as an umlaut, because a lot of times umlauts tend to be vowels pronounced in a more fronted manner than the non umlaut version, but y is a fronted vowel already and as such wouldn’t need an umlaut. It does exist as a diaeresis in some languages though, like aÿ in French, or very rarely in some Dutch words and names like Ruÿs, but not as an umlaut.

 

[snsd2beg]

I like muscles like what @snsd2beg has

What does that have to do with umlauts?

 

[uran]

What does that have to do with umlauts?

i- i dont know

 

[magali]

Bonus fun fact: ñ was also formed like umlauts. It used to be an n over another n, but became a squiggle.

thank god ñ exists, i couldn't imagine myself saying gnocchi