Written accents
English includes some words which can be written with accent marks. These words have been imported from other languages. But it is increasingly rare for writers of English to actually use the accent marks for common words, even in very formal writing, to the point where actually writing the accent may be interpreted as a sign of pretension.
Some examples: à la carte, ångström, appliqué, attaché, blasé, bric-à-brac, café, cliché, crème, crêpe, derrière, éclair, façade, fiancé(e), flambé, führer, maté, né(e), papier-mâché, passé, piñata, piñón, protégé, raison d'être, résumé, risqué, sauté, séance, vis-à-vis, voilà.
Some words such as "rôle" and "hôtel" were first seen with accents when they were borrowed into English, but now the accent is almost never used. The words were considered very French borrowings when first used in English, even accused by some of being foreign phrases used where English alternatives would suffice, but today their French origin is largely forgotten. The accent on "élite" has disappeared most of the time by today, but Time Magazine still uses it.
It is also possible to use a diaeresis to indicate a syllable break, but again this is often left out. Examples: coöperate, daïs, naïve, noël, reëlect.
Written accents are also used occasionally in poetry and scripts for dramatic performances to indicate that a certain normally unstressed syllable in a word should be stressed for dramatic effect, or to keep with the meter of the poetry. This use is frequently seen in archaic and pseudoarchaic writings with the -ed suffix, to indicate that the "e" should be fully pronounced: i.e. "cursèd".
In certain older texts (typically in British English), the use of ligatures is common in words such as archæology, œsophagus, and encyclopædia.
See also
External links
Further reading
- The Oxford Companion to the English Language, ed. Tom McArthur
- The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, by David Crystal