Re: OT: Diacricital marks [Re: Question about "do"]

Mark J. Reed wrote:

>
> JC> It's not so simple.  Italian, like Catalan, mostly keeps to the "old
> JC> rules": the grave on low vowels, the acute on high ones.
>
> Ah!  I was not aware of these "old rules".  I take it they were a
> feature of Romance (or whatever you choose to call the last common vulgar
> Latin) before it diverged?
I was unaware of them too. Including in older texts e.g. Tasso and
Macchiavelli-- but maybe those were modrunized editions....
>
> JC> The only absolutely required accents in Italian are on
> JC> final stressed vowels and on certain monosyllables as a disambiguator
> JC> (as in Spanish).
>
> Yes; the only ones I've seen in my limited exposure are on final è [e`]
and à [a`].
>
-sù, -giù too at least in their various compounds.. And speaking of
Mach...., Niccolò IIRC.  There are probably others ò's, and probably a few
ì's too...ah, place name Forlì.......ahimè, ho dimenticato tanto........