Editing Hyphen (section)

==== Syllabification and spelling ====
Hyphens are occasionally used to denote [[syllabification]], as in ''syl-la-bi-fi-ca-tion''. Various British and North American dictionaries use an [[interpunct]], sometimes called a "middle dot" or "hyphenation point", for this purpose, as in ''syl·la·bi·fi·ca·tion''. This allows the hyphen to be reserved only for places where a hard hyphen is intended (for example, ''{{nowrap|self-con·scious}}'', ''{{nowrap|un·self-con·scious}}'', ''{{nowrap|long-stand·ing}}''). Similarly, hyphens may be used to indicate how a word is being or should be spelled. For example, ''W-O-R-D spells "word"''.

In nineteenth-century American literature, hyphens were also used irregularly to divide syllables in words from indigenous North American languages, without regard for etymology or pronunciation,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Liberman|first=Mark|title=American Indian Hyphens|url=http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005174.html|website=Language Log}}</ref> such as "Shuh-shuh-gah" (from [[Ojibwe language|Ojibwe]] ''zhashagi'', "blue heron") in ''[[The Song of Hiawatha]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Longfellow|first=Henry Wadsworth|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/19/19-h/19-h.htm|title=The Song of Hiawatha}}</ref> This usage is now rare and proscribed, except in some place names such as [[Ah-gwah-ching, Minnesota|Ah-gwah-ching]].