South American
Classification Committee
SACC policy on
diacritical marks on English names
Accent marks
Because correct pronunciation of English names with respect to accents
on syllables is not guided by accent marks, we do not use accent marks on many
words, mainly place names, that require them in Spanish or Portuguese (e.g.,
Apurimac, Baudo, Choco, Junin, Merida, Paramo, Rondonia, Tachira, Tucuman).
Part of the rationale for their absence is that pronunciation of English names
that incorporate unfamiliar Spanish or Portuguese words that do not have accent
marks (e.g., Tacarcuna, Jabiru) still requires knowledge of the rules of those
languages to accent the proper syllable.
Other names that require diacritical marks in Spanish are also
considered proper English words, without accents (e.g., Galapagos), as in the
Oxford English Dictionary; in fact, placing an accent on these words in English
would technically be a misspelling.
Cedillas
We do not use a cedilla in "jacana" or "aracari"
because the Oxford English Dictionary treats these as English words without a
cedilla.
Tildes:
(1) We use tildes on "Marañon" and "Nariño" because
neither are English words, and correct pronunciation of the letter sounds
requires them.
(2) We retain the tilde on "São Paulo," because English
dictionaries typically retain the tilde even though not really necessary for
pronunciation. For consistency, we also retain the tilde in São Francisco
Sparrow."