What is the purpose of the 2 dots over the u in vergüenza?
Hola todos:
I was wondering what is the name of the 2 little dots over the "u" in vergüenza, and how do they affect the pronunciation of it?
I heard a native Spanish speaker say the word, and she pronounced it exactly the way I would have, without the dots, so I am wondering why they are there. Also, I haven't run across any other words that use them, I'm sure there are more, but I've not seen them.
Gracias. 
8 Answers
Hi Amykey,
these 2 dots are called "diéresis".
When the letter G precedes a U plus a hard vowel, the U and the vowel are both pronounced. The U is pronounced like an English W:
guasón
guapo
In order to obtain this W sound in front of a soft vowel, the Ü comes into play. The two dots over the U are called a dieresis and indicate that two adjacent vowels both need to be pronounced as a diphthong:
vergüenza
lingüística
Note: In Spanish, the dieresis is only found on the U, and it can only precede an E or I. When a U is followed by a hard vowel, as in guapo, the W sound is automatic. Remember that a U without dieresis + E or I just makes the G hard (lesson on hard/soft vowels); the dieresis is what indicates that the U has its own sound.
I hope it will helps you.
It´s used to show different pronunciation of the word.
In ¨gue¨ as in ¨guerilla¨ you can´t hear the 'u'[w] sound [ge-ree-ljah] but in vergüenza you can [vehr-gw-enzah]. In words with ¨ge¨ it´s read similar to ¨je¨... miguel´s answer is very good too
The funny quote of the day:
"Pingüino es una palabra atacada por las moscas" - D. Ramón Gómez de la Serna.
(Penguin is a word assaulted by flies)
Other examples:
agüero, agüita, ambigüedad, antigüedad, argüir, bilingüe, cigüeña, contigüidad, degüello, desagüe, exangüe, güero, güey, halagüeño, lengüeta, lingüista, nicaragüense, paragüero, pingüino, piragüismo, ungüento, vergüenza, zarigüeya...
(Still more than 200 missing!)
As usual, everyone's completey wrong.
The two dots in "Vergüenza" are meant to indicate the blusing (sonrojo) you feel when you have done something shameful.
Los dos punticos en "Vergüenza" se usan para indicar el sonrojo que sientes cuando has cometido algo vergonzoso.
Sheesh, I don't know where this place would go if I weren't around to straighten things out! 
- Sergio Leonel "Kun" Agüero
-
ungüento
argüe
güero
antigüedad
bilingüe
cigüeña
My favorite diéresis word is pingüino. [pin-goo-ee’-no]
