# The French "ï"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-i/35079>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 30, 2000, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-i/35079 "2000-09-30T00:15:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2000, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-i/35079/1 "2000-09-30T00:15:06Z")

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What is the umlaut-esque diacritical mark used over the i in _naïve_ and _Aïda_ called?

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**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2000, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-i/35079/2 "2000-09-30T00:41:44Z")

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_diaeresis._

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**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2000, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-i/35079/3 "2000-09-30T00:42:10Z")

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I believe it’s called a diaeresis. It’s not just French, BTW. Some English words (coöperate) used to take them, too. The marks indicate that the vowel is to pronounced separately instead of a dipthong (co-operate instead of coop-erate). My Chicago Manual says their used in Portugese and Spanish, but only in that sort of special case.

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**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2000, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-i/35079/4 "2000-09-30T01:01:23Z")

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In case you mean what is called **in** French, it is _le tréma_.

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**Author:** ![scratch1300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@scratch1300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch1300)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2000, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-i/35079/5 "2000-09-30T12:50:11Z")

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“Umlaut-esque”? I thought the umlaut and the diaeresis were exactly the same thing. What’s the diff?

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**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2000, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-i/35079/6 "2000-09-30T20:14:48Z")

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My wife (who grew up in France) has confimed **missbunny** ’s answer.

Moral of the story: consult your wife first, even when you’re living in different places. ☹

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**Author:** ![Boris\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2000, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-i/35079/7 "2000-09-30T22:16:44Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by scratch1300 \*  
> \*\*“Umlaut-esque”? I thought the umlaut and the diaeresis were exactly the same thing. What’s the diff? \*\*

I think it’s just a matter of application. I only know of umlauts being used in German, and they only go over a, o, and u. The appearance (the side-by-side dots) is the same though.

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**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2000, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-i/35079/8 "2000-09-30T22:45:40Z")

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Umlauts and diaereses look the same but have a different function. An umlauts changes the sound of the vowel it’s are over. A diaeresis is a signal as to the proper syllabification.

In Swedish and Finnish, ä and ö are neither diaereses nor umlauts. They are considered distinct letters in those languages and are alphabetized as the last two letters in the alphabet.