Ƨ

Ƨ (minuscule: ƨ) is a letter which appears in numerous alphabets, including some proposed extensions of the Latin alphabet. Depending on the context in which the letter is used, it is typically based either on the numeral 2 or the Latin letter S.

Reversed S in Doulos SIL

Ƨ was used in the Zhuang alphabet from 1957 to 1986 to indicate the second, or falling, tone (IPA: [˧˩]), due to its resemblance to the numeral 2, along with four other letters resembling numbers. (See: Table). In 1986, Ƨ was replaced by the similarly shaped, but fully Latin Z, when the alphabet was simplified for use in computers.

The proposed Metelko alphabet, devised by Franc Serafin Metelko, used the letter Ƨ to represent the schwa ə sound; it is unclear what inspiration Metelko used for the character (possibly from the Georgian letter used in the Laz and Svan languages spoken in the Southern Caucasus).

A similar sign, 𐆓, was used as a fractional Roman numeral, standing for the fraction 172.

In italic type, г Cyrillic's ge г is strongly homoglyphic to the lowercase ƨ. Early forms of the letter dze S, currently only used in Macedonian Cyrillic, could resemble either a forward or reversed S. The Old Novgorodian birchbark documents have exclusively a reversed version of the letter.

Coat of arms of Haßloch

A charge strongly resembling a Ƨ appears in the civic coat of arms borne by the municipality of Haßloch in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.[1]

Reversed S is very often used in languages using the Latin alphabet as a substitute for S, to depict a young child's handwriting.

Computing codes

Character information
PreviewƧƨ
Unicode name LATIN CAPITAL LETTER TONE TWO LATIN SMALL LETTER TONE TWO
Encodingsdecimalhexdechex
Unicode423U+01A7424U+01A8
UTF-8198 167C6 A7198 168C6 A8
Numeric character referenceƧƧƨƨ

References

  1. "Haßloch Municipality (Germany)". www.crwflags.com. Retrieved 2023-10-17.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.