356) Using French accents on words on French origin that have been fully naturalised in English - in particular, a circumflex on the 'o' in 'role
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Wait until you see my website where the word occurs frequently...
As long as there are lovely pictures, I don't think I'll mind at all ;)
Actually, you're making me realise how interesting the history of graphic representation of these things is (you'd think I'd have thought about this already, considering my epigraphic leanings, but I really didn't!).
This reminds me of my old RE teacher (who was also a French teacher, but didn't teach me French because I never did French at school) - he used to pronounce the 'o' in 'role' differently from the 'o' in e.g. 'coal', 'bowl' (he used the circumflex too!). I don't think most English speakers woul have any phonetic variation there, but he did because he associated it so closely with French. Perhaps the reason I pick up on 'role' is that I don't see any reason for the accent any more because of its pronunciation - whereas for words like blessed and Noel I can see that there's much more of a case for using some kind of diacritical mark to note the extra syllable. It's funny how you can't use the diairesis on blessed and so have to import something that looks like an acute accent though, isn't it? :)
I don't see any reason for the accent any more because of its pronunciation
It's all about common use, isn't it? If enough people do a thing in the same way, then it becomes right, even it was wrong to begin with. So dropping the wrtten accent in words like role and cafe will soon be the norm, and at some point in the future it will seem bizarre that we ever wrote the words any other way.
Can you imagine, for example how strange "hotel" would look with an accent? But it came from French and has a circumflex on the "o" so it must have been used in English at some point...
Oh, and yes, there will be the odd lovely picture or two for you *g*
It's all about common use, isn't it? If enough people do a thing in the same way, then it becomes right, even it was wrong to begin with.
Well yes, indeed. It's interesting how spelling can take such a foothold in some ways. And it is quite difficult to predict as well. One would expect the accent on 'role' (which is not pronounced) to disappear before the accent on 'cafe' (which is pronounced), but I am not sure if that is what is happening. But of course I don't work on English, and someone who works on the written modern language would be much better placed than I am to comment on the trends currently being observed.
And I'm very much looking forward to those pictures!
As long as there are lovely pictures, I don't think I'll mind at all ;)
Actually, you're making me realise how interesting the history of graphic representation of these things is (you'd think I'd have thought about this already, considering my epigraphic leanings, but I really didn't!).
This reminds me of my old RE teacher (who was also a French teacher, but didn't teach me French because I never did French at school) - he used to pronounce the 'o' in 'role' differently from the 'o' in e.g. 'coal', 'bowl' (he used the circumflex too!). I don't think most English speakers woul have any phonetic variation there, but he did because he associated it so closely with French. Perhaps the reason I pick up on 'role' is that I don't see any reason for the accent any more because of its pronunciation - whereas for words like blessed and Noel I can see that there's much more of a case for using some kind of diacritical mark to note the extra syllable. It's funny how you can't use the diairesis on blessed and so have to import something that looks like an acute accent though, isn't it? :)
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It's all about common use, isn't it? If enough people do a thing in the same way, then it becomes right, even it was wrong to begin with.
So dropping the wrtten accent in words like role and cafe will soon be the norm, and at some point in the future it will seem bizarre that we ever wrote the words any other way.
Can you imagine, for example how strange "hotel" would look with an accent? But it came from French and has a circumflex on the "o" so it must have been used in English at some point...
Oh, and yes, there will be the odd lovely picture or two for you *g*
Reply
Well yes, indeed. It's interesting how spelling can take such a foothold in some ways. And it is quite difficult to predict as well. One would expect the accent on 'role' (which is not pronounced) to disappear before the accent on 'cafe' (which is pronounced), but I am not sure if that is what is happening. But of course I don't work on English, and someone who works on the written modern language would be much better placed than I am to comment on the trends currently being observed.
And I'm very much looking forward to those pictures!
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