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 transcriptions, for example the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), that use this letter for the glottal stop sound. The letter derives historically from an apostrophe , as does the half ring .

Graphic variants

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

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

Unicase () 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 () and lowercase (), is provided for the orthographies of Athabaskan languages in the Northwest Territories. Uppercase may be slightly wider than unicase in fonts that distinguish them. Superscript () 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 Superscript

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, , which is probably the most common (and the direct ancestor of ), the 6-shaped ʻokina of Hawaiian, , and the straight-apostrophe shaped saltillo of many languages of Mexico, which has the case forms .

Usage Technical transcription Americanist phonetic notation, International Phonetic Alphabet, Uralic Phonetic Alphabet—unicase ʔ or superscript ˀ Transcription of Australian Aboriginal languages—occasionally unicase ʔ

Vernacular orthographies

Languages of Canada Na-Dene Chipewyan—uppercase Ɂ and lowercase ɂ Dogrib—uppercase Ɂ and lowercase ɂ Slavey—uppercase Ɂ and lowercase ɂ Salishan Halkomelem—unicase ʔ Lillooet—unicase 7 Lushootseed—unicase ʔ Nuxalk—unicase 7 Samish—unicase 7 Squamish—unicase 7 Thompson—unicase ʔ Wakashan Ditidaht—unicase ʔ Nuu-chah-nulth—unicase ʔ Iroquoian Tuscarora—uppercase Ɂ and lowercase ɂ Isolate Kutenai—unicase ʔ Languages of Africa Cameroon Mendankwe-Nkwen—uppercase Ɂ and lowercase ɂ Ivory Coast 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

Languages of Canada Upper Lower Na-Dene ChipewyanɁɂ DogribɁɂ SlaveyɁɂ Salishan Halkomelemʔ Lillooet7 Lushootseedʔ Nuxalk7 Samish7 Squamish7 Thompsonʔ Wakashan Ditidahtʔ Nuu-chah-nulthʔ Iroquoian TuscaroraɁɂ Isolate Kutenaiʔ

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 LETTERGLOTTAL STOP MODIFIER LETTERGLOTTAL STOP LATIN CAPITAL LETTERGLOTTAL STOP LATIN SMALL LETTERGLOTTAL 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

Glottal stop (letter)

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