ʞ

See also: Appendix:Variations of "k"

ʞ U+029E, ʞ
LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K
ʝ
[U+029D]
IPA Extensions ʟ
[U+029F]

Translingual

Design

A turned k.

Symbol

ʞ

  1. (phonetics) A back-released click consonant (voiceless nasal, with a velar or uvular release).
    (superscript 𐞾, IPA) [ʞ]-coloring, or a weak, fleeting or epenthetic [ʞ]-release.
    A minus diacritic, [ʞ᫢], may be used to distinguish a uvular release.
  2. (IPA, obsolete) The forward release of a palatal click, modern ǂ. Misleadingly labeled "velar" in some material.
    • 1921 Écriture phonétique internationale
      Les claquements des Cafres [Xhosa] et des Hottentots [Khoekhoe] se représentent autant que possible par le renversement des lettres marquant les sons normals correspondants: ʇ, ʖ, ʞ;—et ʗ pour le claquement cacuminal
    • 1949, The principles of the International Phonetic Association
      Clicks: dental ʇ (Zulu c), lateral ʖ (Zulu x), retroflex ʗ (Zulu q), velar ʞ.
  3. (extIPA, 2008–2015) a velodorsal consonant; superseded by 𝼃, 𝼁, 𝼇.
  4. (phonetics, obsolete) A voiceless uvular stop ([q])
    • 1892, Franz Boas, Notes on the Chemakum Language, in American Anthropologist
      ʞ=deep guttural k.

Usage notes

Because people misunderstood that this was the IPA letter for the ǂ click, it was rarely used. People instead came up with their own palatal-click letters to augment the IPA, such has Doke's 🡣 and Beach's 𝼋.

In its now-obsolete IPA usage, ʞ was technically only the forward clicked release, not the entire consonant. A full transcription of a click consonant requires a second letter to specify whether the rear closure is velar or uvular, and whether the click is voiced or nasal:

Velar Uvular
Voiceless k͜ʞ q͜ʞ
Voiced ɡ͜ʞ ɢ͜ʞ
Nasal ŋ͜ʞ ɴ͜ʞ

The tie bar may be omitted, and the accompanying letter may be superscripted.

If the order is reversed, e.g. ʞ͜q, that may imply that the velar or uvular release is audible (delayed release).

Dakota

Pronunciation

Letter

ʞ (upper case )

  1. (transcription, obsolete) A tenuis [k]; now k.