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Similarly, a grave accent is sometimes used in poetry to indicate that a single vowel is voiced - e.g. in "cursèd" to indicate that the word should be pronounce
by duskwuff 1y ago
Similarly, a grave accent is sometimes used in poetry to indicate that a single vowel is voiced - e.g. in "cursèd" to indicate that the word should be pronounced as two syllables "curse-ed", rather than a single syllable "curst".
Loanwords often retain their accents as well: cliché, façade, doppelgänger, jalapeño.
- madcaptenor 1y agoBut it's habanero, not habañero - people mistakenly put the ñ by analogy with jalapeño.
- o11c 1y agoThe adjective "learnèd" (meaning "well-educated") is a native English word that should take the grave accent even outside of poetry. Also "unlearnèd".
- MLR 1y agoWinged and legged are still pronounced like that too, at least by some. Interestingly, as an addition to the parent comment, there's a certain point in time where a lot of -ed words are often spelt -'d, which presumably is from the transitionary period between the expectation that the -ed was pronounced and today's general pronunciation.
- UncleSlacky 1y agoYou see this in Shakespeare's plays, "-ed" endings are the equivalent of "-èd", whereas "-'d" is pronounced "-ed" as is common today.
- dfawcus 1y agoOddly enough, I pronounce 'legged' that way, but not 'winged'. e.g. "Long legged monster"
- robin_reala 1y agoThere’s also the (dying) use of diareses to indicate vowel stress, for example coöperative or naïve.
- eadmund 1y agoI’ve always seen it written with an acute accent: ‘curséd.’ Wikipedia notes both usages, but to my knowledge I have never once read a poem which used a grave accent that way.