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What is the distinction between “role” and “rôle” [with a circumflex]?
What is the significance of the “ô” character in “rôle” in this work?
What is the standard rule for using or not using hyphen and diaeresis on the words like reelect , reexamine, and cooperate?
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In an English science book written by an American, I saw some questionable spellings:

  • rôle, with a circumflex accent (^) over the o;

  • coïncidence, with a diaeresis (¨) over the first i but not the second.

Can anyone explain this? I am not a native speaker and don’t understand this culture.

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David Voyance
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  • Sounds like a math book. Double and single dots are used to denote differentiation and sometimes the "hat" is used to denote vectors. – Jim Dec 05 '12 at 01:59
  • Voting to close as general reference. – Robusto Dec 05 '12 at 02:03
  • rôle and coïncidence are not mathematical accents. – GEdgar Dec 05 '12 at 02:30
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    See: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/66126/what-is-the-standard-rule-for-using-or-not-using-hyphen-and-diaeresis-on-the-wor; note, though, that if you don't know that ˆ is called a circumflex and ¨ is called a diaeresis, then you can hardly go looking up how and when to use them. In other words, I don't see how this is general reference. – Marthaª Dec 05 '12 at 02:38
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    Rôle is the original French spelling; it's a borrowed French word. The mark over the O is called a "circumflex accent," and in French it usually suggests that a consonant or a whole syllable has been lost -- the circumflex represents "compensatory lengthening". Coïncidence is a training-wheels spelling of coincidence; the double dots are called a "diaresis" and indicate in English that the vowel they're on should be pronounced seperately from the vowel right before it -- the way the /ɪ/ in /ko.'ɪn.sə.dəns/ is. Another example is coöperate. – John Lawler Dec 05 '12 at 04:23
  • Related: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/15488/what-is-the-distinction-between-role-and-role-with-a-circumflex – coleopterist Dec 05 '12 at 04:34
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    Thank you for the reply. Does an English author write these French in his English book trying to hit that his French origin or hint he is more formal or something like that? – David Voyance Dec 05 '12 at 04:42
  • A foreign word often retains its original diacritics when adopted into English, as a sign of its foreignness; the writer gets credit for knowing a foreign language (or some of one), and the reader is reassured that his ignorance of the word is excusable. Eventually, when the word is felt to be fully "native" and there's nothing to be gained by keeping the diacritics, they disappear. The diaresis was common in the 19th Century, but is usually regarded as an affectation today. – StoneyB on hiatus Dec 05 '12 at 05:34
  • @DavidVoyance I would probably describe the author as pretentious. However, it may not be his choice. I noticed that the New Yorker magazine uses "reëlection" for President Obama's recent result. – Andrew Lazarus Dec 05 '12 at 05:36
  • @Marthaª Agree on 'don't see how this is GR'. However, look at this: https://www.google.com/search?q=co%F6perate Probably this can be closed for lack of background effort instead. – Kris Dec 05 '12 at 07:50
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    @Martha: certainly simply searching the site for role is not too much to ask for. The Wiktionary entry for role mentions rôle, too. In fact it's the very first thing it does. Likewise, it has a dedicated entry for coïncidence, as do many dictionaries. You might or might not call that general reference, but I will go out on a limb and call it lack of research. Sorry, David. Closing as dupe. – RegDwigнt Dec 05 '12 at 10:38

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The mark over the o in rôle is a circumflex. In certain French words it can indicate a lost s, or show that the vowel is to be pronounced long. The mark over the i in coϊncidence is a dieresis, used to show that the vowel is to be pronounced separately from the previous one. They are hardly ever necessary in English, and I have not until now seen a dieresis used at all in coincidence.

Barrie England
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  • I believe that coïncidence and coïncident occur only in French, where we got them from. The OED2 references those origins, but includes no citations in English with the diaeresis intact. – tchrist Dec 06 '12 at 03:56
  • @tchrist you mustn't read the New Yorker, that uses diaereses on any word formed by combination if it brings two vowels together, as per coïncidence. Generally, if some will use a hyphen with a prefix, the New Yorker will use a diaersis. – Jon Hanna Jan 26 '13 at 00:44