What is umlaut?

What Does umlaut Mean

The umlaut is an orthographic sign that is composed of two points that are written horizontally on a vowel. The usual thing is that the umlaut, also known as cream or cremilla , indicates a certain sound that must be pronounced on the affected letter.

The most frequent use of the umlaut in the Spanish language is over the "u" in the syllables "gue" and "gui" , in those words in which the "u" has to be pronounced. For example: the word "shame" has an umlaut in the "u" since, otherwise, it would be pronounced incorrectly. In contrast, terms such as "war" or "merengue" are written without umlauts since the "u" is not pronounced.

Something similar happens with the syllable "gui" . We can find words such as "linguistics" whose letter "u" includes the two horizontal points to specify its pronunciation , and others such as "wink" or "stinger" , which do not have an umlaut.
In other languages , the function of the umlaut is different. In French and Greek, the umlaut indicates that when there are a pair of vowels, the second must be pronounced separately, without diphthong or without being silent.
The dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) recognizes other definitions for the concept of umlaut. It can be used in grammar to indicate the pronunciation in different syllables of two vowels that form diphthong ( “ruína / ruïna” , “víuda / vïuda” ). What the umlaut does in this case is undo the diphthong .
In medicine , on the other hand, the umlaut is the set of surgical procedures that allow the division of organic tissues. Soft tissue diaeresis is defined as any maneuver performed by a surgeon to cut his way through the tissues, which can be achieved by separating or sectioning them.
Fabrics can be classified in several ways; if they are grouped according to their consistency, for example, there are the soft and the hard (teeth, bones and cornea). On the other hand, there are normal tissues (such as the subcutaneous, muscles, fasciae and skin ) and abnormally united (adhesions, scars and fibrosis, among others).

Also, there are several types of umlauts. The bloody , for example, it is characterized by the effusion of blood that occurs when tissues are sectioned and requires major instrumental (including scalpels and dissecting scissors, tooth mouse and dientecillos, and separators as the clip left hand , also called dissection) and complementary instruments (such as the grooved probe).
To perform an umlaut, it is possible to grasp the scalpel in different ways, depending on the maneuver to be performed (an incision or a puncture) and the resistance of the tissues to be separated, the type and length of the incision, and so on. The positions that can be adopted are the following:
* like a pen: when very precise movements are required;

* like a normal knife: for very resistant fabrics;

* like the bow of a violin: for horizontal incisions of a certain extent;

* with the non-sharp side down: for the centrifugal umlaut, which is carried out from the inside out.
The secret of a master umlaut, in which common errors known as queues and ramps are not noticed , lies in paying special attention to the following points:
* Start : make sure the position of the scalpel is perpendicular to the tissue before starting the incision;

* Displacement : as the scalpel is displaced, a 45-degree angle must be sought and maintained until it is millimeters from the end of the umlaut;

* Completion : The scalpel should be repositioned 90 degrees from the surface.

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