Lambda (, ) is an additional letter of the
Latin script
The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern Italy ...
, based on the letter
lambda
Lambda (}, ''lám(b)da'') is the 11th letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the voiced alveolar lateral approximant . In the system of Greek numerals, lambda has a value of 30. Lambda is derived from the Phoenician Lamed . Lambda gave rise ...
from the
Greek alphabet
The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BCE. It is derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and was the earliest known alphabetic script to have distinct letters for vowels as we ...
. It is used in
Heiltsuk
The Heiltsuk or Haíɫzaqv , sometimes historically referred to as ''Bella Bella'', are an Indigenous people of the Central Coast region in British Columbia, centred on the island community of Bella Bella. The government of the Heiltsuk people ...
,
Liqʼwala
Liqʼwala (also rendered and Lik'wala), is an endangered dialect of Kwakʼwala spoken by the Laich-kwil-tach people of Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
In 2017, according to Laurie Lewis of the Liqʼwala Language Revitalization Committee, on ...
,
Kwakʼwala
Kwakʼwala (), or Kwak̓wala, previously known as Kwakiutl (), is the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, Indigenous language spoken by the Kwakwakaʼwakw (which means "those who speak Kwakʼwala") in Western Canada. Kwakʼwala be ...
, and
Pilagá. In these languages, Latin lambda represents a variety of
lateral
Lateral is a geometric term of location which may refer to:
Healthcare
*Lateral (anatomy), an anatomical direction
*Lateral cricoarytenoid muscle
*Lateral release (surgery), a surgical procedure on the side of a kneecap
Phonetics
*Lateral cons ...
phonemes
In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language.
For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west o ...
. The
lower-case
Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (or more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (or more formally ''minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing ...
variant is a
homoglyph
In orthography and typography, a homoglyph is one of two or more graphemes, characters, or glyphs with shapes that appear identical or very similar. The designation is also applied to sequences of characters sharing these properties.
Synoglyphs ...
of lower-case
lambda
Lambda (}, ''lám(b)da'') is the 11th letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the voiced alveolar lateral approximant . In the system of Greek numerals, lambda has a value of 30. Lambda is derived from the Phoenician Lamed . Lambda gave rise ...
. The upper-case is a large variant of the lower case in Pilagá but a turned
Y in North America.
Usage
The letter appears in the
Liqʼwala
Liqʼwala (also rendered and Lik'wala), is an endangered dialect of Kwakʼwala spoken by the Laich-kwil-tach people of Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
In 2017, according to Laurie Lewis of the Liqʼwala Language Revitalization Committee, on ...
dialect of
Kwakʼwala
Kwakʼwala (), or Kwak̓wala, previously known as Kwakiutl (), is the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, Indigenous language spoken by the Kwakwakaʼwakw (which means "those who speak Kwakʼwala") in Western Canada. Kwakʼwala be ...
language, where it represents . In
Kwakʼwala
Kwakʼwala (), or Kwak̓wala, previously known as Kwakiutl (), is the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, Indigenous language spoken by the Kwakwakaʼwakw (which means "those who speak Kwakʼwala") in Western Canada. Kwakʼwala be ...
, Latin lambda may also be used instead of the digraph .
In the
Heiltsuk dialect
Heiltsuk , also known as Haíɫzaqv, Bella Bella and Haihais, is a dialect of the North Wakashan (Kwakiutlan) language Heiltsuk-Oowekyala that is spoken by the Haihai ( Xai'xais) and Bella Bella First Nations peoples of the Central Coast region ...
of North
Wakashan
Wakashan is a family of languages spoken in British Columbia around and on Vancouver Island, and in the northwestern corner of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington (state), Washington state, on the south side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
As is ...
, Latin lambda represents and may be alternatively rendered as .
In the
Pilagá language
Pilagá is a Guaicuruan languages, Guaicuruan language spoken by 4,000 :es:Pilagá, people in the Bermejo River, Bermejo and Pilcomayo River valleys, western Formosa Province, in northeastern Argentina.
Sociocultural context
The geographical dis ...
, Latin lambda is used to represent .
As of 2024, Unicode support is pending at U+A7DA and U+A7DB and is expected by September.
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References
Latin-script letters, L, Lambda, Latin
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