Non-English loanwords enter the English language by a process of naturalization, [...] there is a tendency for accents and other diacritics that were present in the donor language to be dropped [1].
We have words with the same spelling but different meanings and pronunciations all the time - so called Heteronyms [2]. Doesn't seem that confusing to me. To me it'd be pretty weird if people who understood the word rôle were baffled by the word role.
Really? I've always thought of heteronyms as one of the most stand-out features of English that exemplify its confusing inconsistency. More so than the homophones, because it's harder to think of the "other" meanings if you've got the wrong pronunciation in your head.
In reference to the passage you quoted about diacritics, if only you had read as far as the next-but-one paragraph, you might have noticed: "Words that retain their accents often do so to help indicate pronunciation (e.g. frappé, naïve, soufflé), or to help distinguish them from an unaccented English word (e.g. exposé, résumé, rosé)."
We have words with the same spelling but different meanings and pronunciations all the time - so called Heteronyms [2]. Doesn't seem that confusing to me. To me it'd be pretty weird if people who understood the word rôle were baffled by the word role.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_terms_with_diacritical_... [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heteronym_(linguistics)