diaeresis

n.[语音]分音符号

a sign ( ¨ ) placed over a vowel to indicate that it is pronounced separately from the preceding vowel (as in naïve) or to indicate a vowel letter that is not pronounced at all (as in Brontë)

名词

1. The diaeresis is commonly used in French to indicate that two vowels should be pronounced separately, as in "naïve".
2. The last name "Brontë" is spelled with a diaeresis over the letter "e", but the letter is not pronounced.