|
The circumflex (ˆ) is one of the five diacritics used in the French language. It may be used atop the vowels a, e, i, o, and u. In French, the circumflex has three primary functions: *It affects the pronunciation of ''a'', ''e'', and ''o''; although used on ''i'' and ''u'' as well, it does not affect their pronunciation. *It often indicates the historical presence of a letter (commonly ''s'') that has, over the course of linguistic evolution, become silent and fallen away in orthography. *Less frequently, it is used to distinguish between two homophones (for example, ''sur'' "on" versus ''sûr'' "sure"). In certain words, the circumflex is idiopathic, and has no precise linguistic role. == First usages == The circumflex first appeared in written French in the 16th century. It was borrowed from Ancient Greek, and combines the acute accent and the grave accent. Grammarian Jacques Dubois (known as Sylvius) is the first writer known to have used the Greek symbol in his writing (although he wrote in Latin). Several grammarians of the French Renaissance attempted to prescribe a precise usage for the diacritic in their treatises on language. The modern usage of the circumflex accent became standardized in the 18th or 19th century. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Use of the circumflex in French」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|