ƛ

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Barred lambda
Ƛ ƛ
Upper and lower case of Latin barred lambda
Usage
Writing systemLatin script
Typealphabetic
Language of originAmericanist phonetic notation
Sound values
In UnicodeU+A7DC, U+019B
History
Development

The barred lambda (Ƛ ƛ) (U+A7DC Ƛ LATIN CAPITAL LETTER LAMBDA WITH STROKE, U+019B ƛ LATIN SMALL LETTER LAMBDA WITH STROKE), is a modified letter of the Greek alphabet, commonly encountered in North American linguistics. It is used by the Salishan and Wakashan languages in Canada.[1] In Americanist phonetic notation, it is also known as running man[2] or blam,[3][4] and is used to transcribe a voiceless alveolar lateral affricate [t͡ɬ]. It is sometimes also called . In physics, it represents the reduced Compton wavelength, i.e. the Compton wavelength λ divided by 2π.

Capital letter barred lambda
Small letter barred lambda
Cased forms of the barred lambda. The capital was assigned to Unicode in 2024.

It was first used in a phonetics context in American Anthropologist in 1934:

λ for [dl] has been used in Eskimo by Jenness ... ƛ for [tł] is an innovation formed from λ as ł from l.[5]

It is also used for the affricate [t͡ɬ] in transcribing the Sahaptin language, e.g., iƛúpna ‘he jumped’, and it is commonly used for the same purpose in several languages of the Caucasus, such as Hinuq.[6] In addition, its counterpart with a combining comma above right (U+0315), ƛ̓, is used for many of the Salish languages, such as Klallam, for an alveolar lateral ejective affricate [t͡ɬʼ].

Encodings

Character information
PreviewꟜƛ
Unicode name LATIN CAPITAL LETTER LAMBDA WITH STROKE LATIN SMALL LETTER LAMBDA WITH STROKE
Encodingsdecimalhexdechex
Unicode42972U+A7DC411U+019B
UTF-8234 159 156EA 9F 9C198 155C6 9B
Numeric character referenceꟜꟜƛƛ

References

  1. Humchitt, Robyn; Jacquerye, Denis; King, Kevin (2023-07-17). "L2/23-191: Proposal to Encode 3 Additional Latin Characters for Wakashan and Salishan Languages to the Unicode Standard" (PDF).
  2. Archived 2008-07-03 at the Wayback Machine (strictly speaking, this refers to the glottalized version, [t͡ɬʼ])
  3. Bringhurst, Robert (2004). The Elements of Typographic Style. Hartley & Marks. p. 288.
  4. Rosendorf, Theodore; Lupton, Ellen (2009). The Typographic Desk Reference. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Books. p. 34.
  5. Herzog, George; Newman, Stanley S.; Sapir, Edward; Swadesh, Mary Haas; Swadesh, Morris; Voegelin, Charles F. (Oct–Dec 1934). "Some orthographic recommendations". American Anthropologist. 36 (4): 629–631. doi:10.1525/aa.1934.36.4.02a00300.
  6. Forker, Diana (2013-04-16). A Grammar of Hinuq:. DE GRUYTER. doi:10.1515/9783110303971. ISBN 978-3-11-030376-6.