not quiteit's the difference in pronunciation between the oo in 'coordinate' and in 'chicken coop'. most languages have distinct symbols for those sounds. umlaut is a shift in vowel sound which in german is denoted by putting an e after the vowel (which migrated on top of the letter and became two dots) -- we've still got a few examples of umlaut in english, too: 'man' and 'men', 'woman' and 'women' (two of them there, only one written), 'goose' and 'geese', 'foot' and 'feet', that kind of thing.
we used to make it clear when things were a diphthong and when they were distinct vowels by putting two dots above the second vowel, as in coördinate, which you'll see in some (very) old physics textbooks. the french still do that in some words. we probably stopped because our education system is fucking gash and has been for at least 55 years now, and doesn't teach any grammar because the poor little darlings might get bored. and so everyone associates two dots with umlaut -- even though it's definitely not -- and avoids it because obviously anything slightly german is RACIST.
yeah!
/rant over :D
edit: for the cataclysmicly interested:
a) get a life -- i clearly don't have one, and it's not much fun
b) we still use the dots in one word. lord knows why it survived when it died everywhere else, but it did. that's why naïve has those two dots on top of the i. it's not an umlaut, it's to avoid people pronouncing it as 'nave' or 'nive'. of course, it doesn't work and people pronounce it as 'nave' or 'nive' anyway.
(we used to make it clear when things were a diphthong and when they were distinct vowels by putting two dots above the second vowel, as in coördinate, which you'll see in some (very) old physics textbooks. the french still do that in some words. we probably stopped because our education system is fucking gash and has been for at least 55 years now, and doesn't teach any grammar because the poor little darlings might get bored. and so everyone associates two dots with umlaut -- even though it's definitely not -- and avoids it because obviously anything slightly german is RACIST.
yeah!
/rant over :D
edit: for the cataclysmicly interested:
a) get a life -- i clearly don't have one, and it's not much fun
b) we still use the dots in one word. lord knows why it survived when it died everywhere else, but it did. that's why naïve has those two dots on top of the i. it's not an umlaut, it's to avoid people pronouncing it as 'nave' or 'nive'. of course, it doesn't work and people pronounce it as 'nave' or 'nive' anyway.
boris the spider,
Fri 26 Feb 2010, 13:38,
archived)
I'm racist and not remotely GermanEXPLAIN THAT YOU FUCKING GYPO
(
Prof UnderCover evitable,
Fri 26 Feb 2010, 13:40,
archived)
Not every racist is GermanBut every German is racist.
No, wait, is that the wrong way round?
(No, wait, is that the wrong way round?
boris the spider,
Fri 26 Feb 2010, 13:41,
archived)
I didn't mean racisti meant sexually insecure
( Prof UnderCover evitable,
Fri 26 Feb 2010, 13:44,
archived)
not every german is a sexual masterbut all sexual masters are aryan
( boris the spider,
Fri 26 Feb 2010, 13:45,
archived)
Hahahahahahahaha
Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob,
Fri 26 Feb 2010, 14:01,
archived)
I learnt to read using an initial teaching alphabet with joined vowels./70's experiment child
( FeralCatMan Unusual disease collector.,
Fri 26 Feb 2010, 14:05,
archived)