David H Wild wrote: > In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > John Machin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > So why do you want to strip off accents? The history of communication > > has several examples of significant difference in meaning caused by > > minute differences in punctuation or accents including one of which you > > may have heard: a will that could be read (in part) as either "a chacun > > d'eux million francs" or "a chacun deux million francs" with the > > remainder to a 3rd party. > > The difference there, though, is a punctuation character, not an accent.
It's not too hard to imagine an accentual difference, eg: Le soldat protège avec le fusil --> the soldier protects with the gun Le soldat protégé avec le fusil --> the soldier who is protected by the gun (perhaps a cannon) Contrived example, I realize, but there are scads of such instances. (Caveat: my french is also very rusty). -Mike
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