Diaeresis (prosody)

Okay kiddo, let's talk about diaeresis. A diaeresis is a mark that is put on top of a vowel to show that it should be pronounced separately from the vowel beside it.

Imagine you are pronouncing the word "cooperate." The two "o"s in the middle of the word are supposed to be pronounced as two separate syllables: "co-op-er-ate." But sometimes people might accidentally pronounce it as "coop-er-ate," which sounds a little different. That's where the diaeresis comes in - if you put two dots over the second "o," it tells the reader to pronounce it as a separate syllable.

It's like putting a little roadblock between the two vowels to make sure they don't run together.

Diaeresis is often used in poetry or music to help the reader or singer know exactly how to pronounce each syllable. It can also be used in languages that have tricky pronunciation rules where certain letters might be pronounced differently in different words.

So, that's what diaeresis means! It's just a little mark that helps us know how to say words correctly.