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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Timo: [QB] The double-dot above a vowel has two common meanings. In German-related languages, it transforms the open vowel into a more nasal variant. For example [i]a[/i] (as in "car") becomes [i]�[/i] (as in "cat", although the length of the sound doesn't change). In Finnish, we only use �/a-umlaut/ae and �/o-umlaut/oe, but usually u-umlaut/ue is used as well. It's just that apparently my computer crashes if I try to type the letter for u-umlaut in Netscape... If you see the double-dot over some vowel other than a, o or u, it's probably not a real umlaut. Instead, it just means the vowel is given more length, pitch and accent than one would expect. You see that a lot in (French) translitterations of Arabic or of "exotic" languages. The a-with-a-circle is a Swedish speciality. It basically transforms [i]a[/i] into an open variant of [i]o[/i], when the regular [i]o[/i] in Swedish is usually very closed and resembles [i]u[/i] in pronunciation. Sometimes it's translitterated as [i]aa[/i], but the Danes hate that since their [i]aa[/i] isn't pronounced like that (any more than the "ae" in "Gaelic" is pronounced as a-umlaut). In Finland, we actually call the a-with-a-circle "the Swedish o", and thus "STARG�TE" gives us the same sort of giggles as Lily's "Borg? Sounds Swedish" line. The show's name is pronounced something like "Star-goth-e" around here... :p Oh, and the Danes and Norwegians insist on writing o-umlaut not with a double-dot, but with a slash across the o. Silly them. It's basically the same letter anyway. :p Boy, that was dull. Next week: how to tell the different types of Nordic ski events apart. Timo Saloniemi [/QB][/QUOTE]
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