DIACRITICAL MARKS IN FRENCH AND YORUBA LANGUAGE; POINT OF CONVERGENCE AND DIVERGENCE

Abstract

Language is not only a tool for communication but also a carrier of culture, identity, and meaning. Among the many features that give language its richness, diacritical marks play a crucial role in shaping pronunciation, meaning, and interpretation. Diacritical marks play an important role in many languages because they guide pronunciation and meaning in words that are homographs. In both French and Yoruba, these marks serve as essential linguistic tools, although they operate in different ways. In the two languages the utilisation of these accents is very important because without them there will be a lot of confusion for the speakers of the languages. This study examines the points of convergence and divergence in the use of diacritical marks in French and Yoruba. French employs diacritics such as the acute (é), grave (è), circumflex (â), cedilla (ç), and diaeresis (ë) mainly to influence pronunciation, indicate historical spelling, or distinguish between similar words. Yoruba, on the other hand, uses tone marks and under dots to indicate tonal variation and vowel quality, which are crucial for meaning since Yoruba is a tonal language. The paper adopts a comparative and descriptive approaches to highlight how these orthographic features reflect deeper phonological and cultural realities. It reveals that although both languages share the use of diacritics as visual guides in written communication, Yoruba and French depend heavily on them for semantic clarity. By examining these similarities and differences, this study contributes to cross-linguistic understanding and emphasizes the importance of diacritics in preserving linguistic identity and accuracy in communication.