With the
recent (as in, since I started reading
newspapers and watching
the news)
media focus on the
Middle East, a number of print media have translated
foreign words and names into
English and used the
apostrophe within these words.
In English, the apostrophe is used to take the place of one or more letters that are left out of a word or phrase in order to shorten it and write it as it sounds
phonetically. Words like this are called
contractions. For example, in the word "doesn’t" the apostrophe takes the place of the "o" from the phrase "does not". Spelling it with the apostrophe allows it to appear in print in the same manner as it is spoken (i.e. the "o" sound is not pronounced).
Recently, some newspapers and online media have printed names such as the "
Ba’ath party" (incidentally, it’s not Party), using an apostrophe in the name. Following the rules of
the English language, I’m forced to ask myself what letter or letters are being replaced by the apostrophe in this instance, and how would the complete name be spelled?
Turning to another example and upon digging deeper I find that the word "Ha'aretz" is actually two words in Hebrew: "ha" being equivalent to "the" and "aretz" meaning "land". English translations usually print this phrase as a single word: "haaretz", "ha’aretz" or "ha-aretz".
Words that are
translated and published using a
hyphen or apostrophe are done so in order to make it easier for the (
assumed uneducated)
reader to understand that what they are reading is a foreign word or phrase. If the publisher printed "ha aretz" perhaps the caffeine deficient commuter with his morning paper might think the editor let "ha" slip where "the" should have been.
Update: I've been recently informed that the apostrophe is also used to indicated a
glottal stop. If you don't want to read that exhaustive node on it, here's the nutshell version: The glottal stop is a guttural sound that is made when the
glottal folds (see
glottis, the space between the vocal cords in the throat) are pressed together. For example, the sound made when saying "uh uh". Most of the time English language writers leave this out, as it could appear in many common words. Therefore, my theory that editors leave it in to denote a foreign word still stands, I think.
Sources
http://www.cp.org/english/copytalk/ct042003.pdf
http://www.insidevc.com/vcs/opinion/article/0,1375,VCS_125_2007465,00.html
http://www.calpundit.blogspot.com/2003_03_23_calpundit_archive.html
http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/specials/StyleGuide2.pdf