Can you think of an English word, not borrowed from another language, that has an accent or other diacritic? (a diacritic is simply any glyph added to a letter: see here for examples).
You may not be able to think of many, because English of course doesn’t really use any diacritic marks. You might be able to think of some words borrowed from other languages that retain them. Exposé for example, or façade. They’re useful in those cases to indicate pronunciation, particularly for exposé, to distinguish it from expose. Generally though, when importing words from other languages, we don’t tend to keep the diacritic marks. It used to be more common. Even into the early 20th century, it was fairly common to spell the words hotel and role with a circumflex over the O, as in French, like so: hôtel and rôle. Nowadays though, we tend to avoid diacritics entirely.
With one exception though, as there is one diacritic mark which is officially used in native English words. You may have figured it out if you thought of names like Zoë, Chloë, or Noël. This mark is best known by its German name umlaut, though in English it’s known as a diaeresis. It’s function can be easily figured out from the examples above: it indicates that the second vowel is pronounced separately from the preceding vowel, and is particularly useful when those two vowels together normally produce a particular sound.
You might think that proper nouns don’t count, particularly because the ones I mentioned above are also used in other languages. That’s a fair point, but it’s also possible to use a diaeresis in other English words. This article, for example, which inspired this post, features such a use. Notice how the author spells coöperate, beginning in the third paragraph. I was initially taken aback when I first saw it, as I’m not used to seeing it spelled with a diaeresis. Most people use a hyphen to separate the prefix and the rest of the word, or don’t bother doing anything at all (cooperate, which I hate). The diaeresis makes sense in this case, as it does in other words such as daïs and reëlect.
It’s never really necessary to use a diaeresis, but at least now you have an answer to a possible quiz question, and you can add a little flair to your writing!
English-Language Thoughts 
Interesting. I thought “naïve” is also spelled with a diaeresis, but I may be wrong. And doesn’t the name Brontë fall into the same group as Zoë and Chloë? (Which, I’m sure you know, are both Greek.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re right, it’s usually spelled with a diaeresis. Brontë too, to indicate that the E is pronounced. Interestingly, the family’s original name was Brunty, an obscure variation of an old Irish name. The sisters’ father, who was Irish, changed it to Brontë, possibly in admiration of Admiral Nelson, who was Duke of Bronte, and also probably to fit into English society.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Paranaque, Philippines , the place where I was born , has diaeresis on “n”, as in El Ni”n”o, Los Ba”n”os, etc., which is of course Spanish in origin. A lot of Philippine words have the ” enye ” ( n ) sound.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting, I think we’d use it that way in English too, except we don’t really use the “enye” sound, apart from maybe in some American Spanish-language place names.
LikeLiked by 1 person
[…] I don’t believe we can all get along. I support the general idea of the EU, and think coöperation is necessary. But I can still understand why culturally or ethnically distinct groups want to […]
LikeLike
I recently came across this article, which fits well with what you wrote especially since your linked article is from The New Yorker https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-curse-of-the-diaeresis It was particularly helpful in pointing out the differences between an umlaut and a diaeresis (location & function)—unlikely to be confused about that now! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s really interesting, thanks, a great justification for why they use it 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
[…] of us the name seems appropriately ridiculous because of how simple and direct it is, in an almost naïvely childlike way. But if you’re the kind of person who keeps their vocabulary simple, then you […]
LikeLike
[…] been asking myself ruefully these last few days. The E on my keyboard hasn’t been very coöperative, insisting that I bang it at least a few times for it to make the letter E appear on the screen. […]
LikeLike
[…] though, I was impressed how well everyone could communicate and coöperate in English. I like to think I could manage about as well in French or Irish, but I’d still […]
LikeLike
[…] little dots over a little vowel. English of course also has an identical diacritic, the diaeresis. But I already told you that. What I want to look at today though is the umlaut, and one type of umlaut in particular: the metal […]
LikeLike
I did not know this and now I feel very educated. I hate ‘cooperate’ too. My mind reads it as ‘coop-erate’ and that annoys me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Me too!
LikeLike
[…] generic. I can’t remember what exactly, something like charity representative or activity coördinator. But I continued to see animateur/animatrice and animation everywhere when I subsequently lived in […]
LikeLike
[…] and particularly their outlandish fashions. The idea in the song then, is that a Yankee is so naïve that he thinks simply putting a feather in his hat makes him […]
LikeLike