Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site ut-sally.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!gatech!ut-sally!pooh From: pooh@ut-sally.UUCP (Pooh @ the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen) Newsgroups: net.nlang,net.text Subject: Re: about diacritical marks (danish dynamite) Message-ID: <2663@ut-sally.UUCP> Date: Tue, 13-Aug-85 10:24:14 EDT Article-I.D.: ut-sally.2663 Posted: Tue Aug 13 10:24:14 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 14-Aug-85 22:52:02 EDT References: <1065@diku.UUCP> <763@mcvax.UUCP> <1070@diku.UUCP> <775@mcvax.UUCP> <642@kvvax4.UUCP> <483@talcott.UUCP> Reply-To: pooh@ut-sally.UUCP (Pooh @ the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen) Organization: U. Texas CS Dept., Austin, Texas Lines: 22 Xref: linus net.nlang:3172 net.text:499 In article <483@talcott.UUCP> tmb@talcott.UUCP (Thomas M. Breuel) writes: > >German has special characters for the vowel combinations 'ae', 'oe', >'ue', and 'sz'. These were introduced as a matter of convenience in >handwriting: the first three combinations ('Umlaute') are written >as the first vowel with two small parallel lines on top (contracted >to dots in printed matter), which is actually a small script 'e'. >The consonant combination 'sz' is written as a 'beta' like character, >which is a contracted form of the script combination of 's' and 'z'. Actually, I met extremely few Germans in West Germany who even knew what the word "Umlaut" meant. They just call the letters by their pronounced form. We're the ones who make a distinction between the letter and the diacritical mark. Pooh pooh@purdue-ecn.ARPA pur-ee!pooh "If there is a God, then He will reward you; and if there isn't, who has been playing all these games with Jacques Kohn?" -- Isaac Bashevis Singer