(
minuscule: ) is a letter of the
Latin alphabet, formed from
Y with the addition of a
hook. It is used in some
African languages, such as
Fula and
Hausa, to represent a
palatalized glottal stop (
IPA: ).
The placement of the hook on the capital . The original
Unicode charts showed it on the left, while most use in Africa had it on the right, as reflected in the 1978
African reference alphabet. The Unicode usage apparently followed
ISO 6438, and it is not clear where the latter got it. The form used in the code charts was changed recently to show the hook on the right side.
An alternative representation of the sound is . This is used in the orthographies of
Hausa and
Fula in
Nigeria, while is used in
Niger for Hausa, and in most of
West Africa for Fula.
See also
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References
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"African Reference Alphabet" (Niamey 1978)
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"Latin Extended B: Range 0180-024F" (Unicode code chart)
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"Variants for Hooktop Y (U+01B3 and U+01B4)" (SIL, NRSI)