Glottal stop (letter)

ʔ (majuscule: Ɂ, minuscule: ɂ), called a gelded question mark or simply a glottal stop, is an alphabetic letter in some Latin alphabets, most notably in several languages of Canada where it indicates a glottal stop sound. Such usage derives from phonetic transcription, for example the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), that use this letter for the glottal stop sound. The letter derives historically from an apostrophe Template:Angle bracket, as does the half ring Template:Angbr.

Graphic variants

File:Bilingual road sign in squamish language 2.jpg

Road sign in British Columbia showing the use of the digit Template:Angle bracket to represent in the Squamish language.

Where Template:Angle bracket is not available, not being in the basic Latin alphabet, it is sometimes replaced by a question mark Template:Angle bracket, which is its official representation in the SAMPA transcription scheme. In Skwomesh or Squamish, Template:Angle bracket may be replaced by the digit Template:Angle bracket (see image below right).

In Unicode, four graphic variants of the glottal stop letter are available.

• Unicase Template:Angle bracket (Template:Unichar) is provided for the International Phonetic Alphabet and Americanist phonetic notation. It is found in a number of orthographies that use the IPA/APA symbol, such as those of several Salishan languages.
• A case pair, uppercase Template:Angle bracket (Template:Unichar) and lowercase Template:Angle bracket (Template:Unichar), is provided for the orthographies of Athabaskan languages in the Northwest Territories. Uppercase Template:Angle bracket may be slightly wider than unicase Template:Angle bracket in fonts that distinguish them.
• Superscript Template:Angle bracket (Template:Unichar) that is used in Cayuga, the IPA and the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet.

Additionally, there are two graphic variants with a stroke, both used in phonetic transcriptions.

• Caseless Template:Unichar
• Superscript Template:Unichar

Other notations

Other common symbols for the glottal stop sound are variants of the punctuation mark apostrophe that was the historical basis of the glottal stop letters. These include the 9-shaped modifier letter apostrophe, Template:Angle bracket, which is probably the most common (and the direct ancestor of Template:Angle bracket), the 6-shaped ʻokina of Hawaiian, Template:Angle bracket, and the straight-apostrophe shaped saltillo of many languages of Mexico, which has the case forms Template:Angle bracket.

Usage

Technical transcription

• Americanist phonetic notation and the International Phonetic Alphabet—unicase ʔ or superscript ˀ
• Transcription of Australian Aboriginal languages—occasionally unicase ʔ
• Uralic Phonetic Alphabet—superscript ˀ only

Vernacular orthographies

• Languages of Canada
  • Chipewyan—uppercase Ɂ and lowercase ɂ
  • Dogrib—uppercase Ɂ and lowercase ɂ
  • Kootenai—unicase ʔ
  • Musqueam language—unicase ʔ
  • Nootka—unicase ʔ
  • Slavey—uppercase Ɂ and lowercase ɂ
  • Nitinaht—unicase ʔ
  • Thompson—unicase ʔ
  • Lushootseed—unicase ʔ
  • Squamish language—unicase Template:Angle bracket.
  • Tuscarora—uppercase Ɂ and lowercase ɂ
• Cameroon
  • Mendankwe-Nkwen—uppercase Ɂ and lowercase ɂ
• Côte d’Ivoire
  • Abidji—unicase ʔ
  • Cebaara—unicase ʔ
  • Nyarafolo—unicase ʔ
  • Tagwana—unicase ʔ
• Mali
  • Tamasheq—unicase ʔ
• Senegal
  • Hassanya—unicase ʔ as uppercase and lowercase ʼ
  • Laalaa—uppercase Ɂ and lowercase ʼ

Computing codes

In Unicode 1.0, only the unicase and superscript variants were included. In version 4.1 (2005), an uppercase character was added, and the existing unicase character was redefined as its lowercase. Then, in version 5.0 (2006), it was decided to separate the cased and caseless usages by adding a dedicated lowercase letter. The IPA character is first from left, while the extended Latin alphabet characters are third and fourth from left.

Character	ʔ		ˀ		Ɂ		ɂ
Unicode name	LATIN LETTER GLOTTAL STOP		MODIFIER LETTER GLOTTAL STOP		LATIN CAPITAL LETTER GLOTTAL STOP		LATIN SMALL LETTER GLOTTAL STOP
Character encoding	decimal	hex	decimal	hex	decimal	hex	decimal	hex
Unicode	660	0294	704	02C0	577	0241	578	0242
UTF-8	202 148	CA 94	203 128	CB 80	201 129	C9 81	201 130	C9 82
Numeric character reference	ʔ	ʔ	ˀ	ˀ	Ɂ	Ɂ	ɂ	ɂ

See also

• Glottal stop#Writing
• ʾ (Modifier letter right half ring)
• ʕ (Reversed letter)
• ʡ and ʢ (Stroked letters)
• ʖ, ƾ, and 𝼎 (Inverted letters)
• ˀ and ˤ (Superscript letters)
• ʻOkina
• Aleph
• Apostrophe
• Hamza
• Palochka
• Saltillo (letter)
• Sokuon
• Spiritus lenis

External links

• Template:Commonscatinline