| E-Diaeresis | |
|---|---|
| Ë ë | |
| É é,Ẽ ẽ | |
 | |
| Usage | |
| Writing system | Latin script |
| Type | alphabet |
| Sound values | |
| In Unicode | U+00CB, U+00EB |
| History | |
| Development | |
| Variations | É é,Ẽ ẽ |
| This article containsphonetic transcriptions in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. For the distinction between[ ],/ / and ⟨ ⟩, seeIPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters. | |
Ë,ë (e-diaeresis) is a letter in theAlbanian,Kashubian,Emilian,Romagnol,Ladin, andLenape[1] alphabets. As a variant of the lettere, it also appears inAcehnese,Afrikaans,Belarusian,Breton,Dutch,English,Filipino,French,Luxembourgish,Piedmontese,Russian, the Abruzzese dialect of theNeapolitan language, and the Ascolano dialect. The letter is also used inSeneca,Taiwanese Hokkien,Turoyo, andUyghur when written inLatin script.
InAcehnese,ë is used to represent/ə/ (schwa), amid central vowel.
InAfrikaans, thetrema (Afrikaans:deelteken,[ˈdiəl.tiəkən]) is used mostly to indicate that two vowels are pronounced separately. Thedeelteken does exactly what it means in Afrikaans ("separation mark") by marking the beginning of a new syllable and by separating it from the previous one. For example,geëet ("eaten") is pronounced[χəˈiət] in two syllables, the second one beginning withë.
Thedeelteken does not always influence the number of syllables. The wordvoël ("bird"), pronounced[fuəl], is different fromvoel ("feel"), pronounced[ful], but both words have one syllable. In other cases, thedeelteken does not even change the pronunciation. The wordsgeër ("giver") andgeer (a wedge-shaped piece of fabric), for instance, are both pronounced[χiər] in contemporary language. Historically, though, words likegeër orreën ("rain") were pronounced in two syllables:reën, which nowadays is pronounced[riən], was pronounced as[ˈreː.ən] in older Afrikaans. Thedeelteken is onlyetymological since the archaic form ofreën isregen.
Ë is the 8th letter of theAlbanian alphabet and represents the vowel/ə/, like the pronunciation of the⟨a⟩ in "ago". It is the fourth most commonly used letter of the language, comprising 7.74 percent of all writings.[2] According to other data, it is the most common letter, comprising 10.290% of writings.[3]
Ë is used in theromanization of Classical or Eastern Armenian to represent the letterԸ/ը (ët’).
Ë is a phonetic symbol also used in the transcription ofAbruzzese dialects and in theProvince of Ascoli Piceno (the Ascolano dialect). It is called "mute E" and sounds like a hummedé. It is important for the prosody of the dialect itself.
In Dutch,ë appears in the plural form of most words that end in-ie or-ee, likekolonie ->koloniën,zee ->zeeën, andknie ->knieën (Dutch-language rules stipulate an extrae before theë in plurals if the accent falls on the syllable containing theë). This so-calledtrema indicates that the vowel letter does not form a digraph with the preceding vowel letter but is pronounced separately. For example,koloniën is pronounced[koːˈloːnijə(n)]ⓘ, butkolonien would be pronounced *[koːˈloːnin].
In some peripheralEmilian dialects, ë is used to represent [ə], e.g.strëtt [strətː] "narrow".
Use of the characterË in theEnglish language is relatively rare. Some publications, such as the American magazineThe New Yorker, use it more often than others.[4] It is used to indicate that thee is to be pronounced separately from the preceding vowel (e.g. in the word "reëntry", the feminine name "Chloë" or in the masculine name "Raphaël"), or at all – like in the name of theBrontë sisters, where without diaeresis the finale would be mute.
In theFilipino language (Filipíno/Filipino) of 1987 to the present, and even in its de facto and its predecessor's or predecessors' de jure language basis (of the former Pilipino language from 1959 to 1987 and of the much former Pilipino or Filipino National Language, Pilipino or Filipino Tagalog-based National Language, Pilipino or Filipino Tagalog-based Language, Tagalog-based National Language, Tagalog-based Language and/or (the) National Language from 1937 to 1959), which is theTagalog language (Tagálog/Tagalog), Ë or ë, only since 2013, represents the schwa vowel sound natively existing in few to someFilipino words fromMaranao (Mëranáw/Mëranaw),Pangasinan (Panggasinán/Pangasinan), andIlocano (Ilokáno/Ilokano) languages that are also words inFilipino, among few to some otherFilipino words from the other languages in the Philippines that natively have this vowel sound (e.g.Karay-a (Karáy-a/Kinaray-a),Cuyonon (Kuyónon/Kuyonon),Kankanaey (Kankanáëy/Kankanay), andIbaloi (Ibalóy/Ibaloy) languages) and that are also words inFilipino.[5]
Before the introduction of this variant of the letterEe in theFilipino language'sorthography, the schwa vowel sound was ambiguously represented by either the letterA /a orE /e.[6]
Ë is used in the linguistic reconstructions ofProto-Finnic to denote an unrounded (mid?) back vowel [ɤ~ɤ̞~ʌ] the back counterpart to [e] for Proto-Finnic's system ofvowel harmony. It is also used in the allophonic diphthong [ɤu] –ëu.
Ë appears in words like FrenchNoël. Like in Dutch, it is used to indicate that the vowel letter does not form a digraph with the preceding vowel letter but is pronounced separately. For example,Noël is pronounced[nɔɛl], whilstNoel would be pronounced[nwɛl].
Ë does not occur in theofficialGerman alphabet. However, a diaeresis abovee in German occurs in a few proper names and ethnonyms, such asFerdinand Piëch,Bernhard Hoëcker,Alëuten,Niuë,Uëa. Occasionally, a diaeresis may be used in some well-known names, such asItaliën, which is usually written asItalien. Without a diaeresis,ie would be [iː] instead of [iə];eu would be [ɔʏ] instead of [eu] andae,oe,ue would be alternative representations of respectivelyä,ö,ü.
Ë does not belong to theofficialHungarian alphabet, but is usually applied in folklore notations and sometimes also in stylistic writing, e.g. is extensively used in the vocal oeuvre ofKodály. The reason is that opene (close to English hat, cat, cap) and closedë (close to Spanish e) are distinguished in most spoken dialects, but is not indicated in writing because of the history of writing and due to little but observable areal variation.
Ë is the 9th letter of theKashubian alphabet and represents/ə/.
Although not used in standardLadin,Ë is used in the local variationsgherdëina,badiot andfodom. It represents/ɜ/.
In many editions ofLatin texts, the diaeresis is used to indicate thatae andoe form ahiatus, not a diphthong (in the Classical pronunciation) or a monophthong (in traditional English pronunciations). Examples:aër "air",poëta "poet",coërcere "to coerce".
In theLenape language, the letter ë is used to represent the schwa vowel. An example of its use is the wordmikwën, which means "feather". It can also be found in more complex words, such asntëmpëm, which means "my brain".[1]
InLuxembourgish,ë is used to indicate stressedschwa/ə/ as in the wordëmmer [ˈəmɐ] ("always"). Otherwise, a stressede is pronounced as [æ] (e.g.sechs [zæks] ("six")), [ɛ] (e.g.Verb [vɛχp] ("verb")) or [eː] (e.g.Prefix [ˈpʀeːfiks] ("prefix")).
It is also used to indicate an unstressed schwa in the following cases:
In the modern orthography ofMayan languages, the letterË represents/ə/.
Ë represents the mid central vowel/ə/ in the modern orthography ofPiedmontese language.
In theconstructed languageQuenya, a diaeresis indicates that a vowel is not part of a diphthong, for example inëa orëo. Finalë is also marked with a diaeresis to remind English-speakers that it is not silent.
Ë is used inRomagnol to represent [ɛː~ɛə], e.g.fradël [fraˈdɛəl~fraˈdɛːl] "brother".
In some Latin transliterations ofRussian such asISO 9,ë is used for itshomoglyphё, representing a/jo/, as inPotëmkin to render the CyrillicПотёмкин. Other translations useyo,jo or (ambiguously) simplye.
In theromanization of Syriac, the letterË gives aschwa. In some grammatical constructions, it is a replacement for the other, original vowels (a, o, e, i, u). Example words that haveË:knoṭër ("he is waiting"),krëhṭi ("they are running"),krëqdo ("she is dancing"),ŝërla ("she has closed"),gfolëḥ ("he will work"),madënḥo ("east"),mën ("what"),ašër ("believe").Turoyo andAssyrian languages may utilize this diacritic, albeit rarely.
InSeneca, the letterË is used to represent/ẽ/, aclose-mid front unroundednasalized vowel.
In theTagalog language and in and from its de facto standardized form of or as theFilipino language,Ë orë, only since 2013, is used to represent theschwa vowel sound, particularly in non-nativeTagalog loanwords from the otherlanguages of the Philippines and, specifically and especially in the case ofTagalog, from or through either themselves orFilipino, or both, such as fromMaranao (Mëranaw),Pangasinan (Panggasinan/Pangasinan),Ilocano (Ilokano),Karay-a (Karay-a/Kinaray-a),Cuyonon (Kuyonon),Kankanaey (Kankanaëy/Kankanay), andIbaloi (Ibaloy).
Before the introduction of this letterEe variant of and fromFilipino'sorthography, the schwa vowel sound was ambiguously represented by either the letterA /a orE /e inTagalog.
Ë is the 6th letter of theUyghur Latin alphabet and represents close-mid front unrounded vowel/e/ (while plainE stands for/ɛ/ or/æ/).
| Preview | Ë | ë | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode name | LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E WITH DIAERESIS | LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH DIAERESIS | ||
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 203 | U+00CB | 235 | U+00EB |
| UTF-8 | 195 139 | C3 8B | 195 171 | C3 AB |
| Numeric character reference | Ë | Ë | ë | ë |
| Named character reference | Ë | ë | ||
| ISO 8859-1,2,3,4,9,10,14,15,16 | 203 | CB | 235 | EB |