Can You Use Diacritical Marks?

Diacritical marks are used in dozens of other foreign languages, including Afrikaans, Arabic, Hebrew, Filipino, Finnish, Greek, Galician, Irish, Italian, Spanish, and Welsh. These marks can change not only the pronunciation but also the meaning of a word. One example in English is résumé or resumé versus resume.

What is a diacritical mark called?

A diacritical mark is a symbol that tells a reader how to pronounce a letter. ... They're also known as diacritics or accents. No matter what you call them or what they look like, diacritical marks are there to show you how a letter sounds when you say it out loud.

Are accent marks considered punctuation?

The short answer is to index them. Accents, umlauts, and other diacritical marks are part of the letter or character, not separate punctuation. ... Diacritical marks often change the meaning of words and even create new letters.

Marcus Vance

Marcus Vance

Cybersecurity & Digital Privacy Researcher

Marcus Vance is a cybersecurity auditor and technology writer dedicated to educating the public about online safety, data privacy regulations, enterprise security, and emerging cyber threats.