Ɓ (minuscule: ɓ), called "B-hook" or "B with a hook", is a letter of the Latin alphabet and the International African Alphabet. Its lower-case form, ɓ, represents a voiced bilabial implosive in the International Phonetic Alphabet. It is used to spell that sound in various languages, notably Fula, Hausa and Giziga. It was also formerly used in or at least proposed for Xhosa and Zulu.
In Unicode, the upper case Ɓ is in the Latin Extended B range (U+0181), and the lower case ɓ is in the IPA range (U+0253). In Shona the upper case form is a just a larger form of the lower case letter.
Alternative or obsolete capital form
edit
The Practical Orthography for African Languages (1930 ed.) used a different capital form, similar to the Cyrillic letter be (Б).[1] A New Testament in the Loma language of Liberia, which was typeset in 1971, used this capital form.[2]
See also
editSimilar letters
editAlphabets with this letter
edit- Africa Alphabet
- African reference alphabet
- Pan-Nigerian alphabet
- Alphabets for the following specific languages:
- Fula (see also Fula orthographies)
- Hausa
- Giziga
Notes
edit- ^ Practical Orthography of African Languages, Revised Edition, London: Oxford University Press, 1930
- ^ Message posted to the "Qalam" list, Sept. 15, 2007
References
edit- Pullum, Geoffrey K.; Ladusaw, William A. (1996). Phonetic Symbol Guide. University of Chicago Press. p. 23.
- "Latin Extended B: Range 0180-024F" (Unicode code chart)
- "IPA Extensions: Range 0250-02AF" (Unicode code chart)