The modifier letter apostrophe is a letter in
Unicode
Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems. The standard, ...
encoding, used primarily for various
glottal sounds.
Encoding
The letter apostrophe is encoded at , which is in the
''Spacing Modifier Letters'' Unicode block.
In Unicode code charts it looks identical to the , but this is not true for all fonts. The primary difference between the letter apostrophe and
U+2019
U or u, is the twenty-first and sixth-to-last letter and fifth vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''u'' (pro ...
is that the letter apostrophe U+02BC has the Unicode
General Category
A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED On ...
"Letter, modifier" (Lm), while U+2019 has the category "Punctuation, Final quote" (Pf).
In early Unicode (versions 1.0–2.1.9) U+02BC was preferred for the punctuation apostrophe in English. Since version 3.0.0, however, U+2019 is preferred, because it is defined as a punctuation mark. The behavior of Unicode letters and punctuation marks differs, causing complications if punctuation code points are used for letters or vice versa.
Use
In the
International Phonetic Alphabet, it is used to express
ejective consonant
In phonetics, ejective consonants are usually voiceless consonants that are pronounced with a glottalic egressive airstream. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated, voiced and tenuis consonants. Some ...
s, such as
,
.
It denotes a
glottal stop in orthographies of many languages, such as
Nenets (in Cyrillic script) and the artificial
Klingon language
The Klingon language ( tlh, tlhIngan Hol, links=no, '' '': , ) is the constructed language spoken by a fictional alien race called the Klingons, in the ''Star Trek'' universe.
Described in the 1985 book ''The Klingon Dictionary'' by Marc Okra ...
.
In one version of the
Kildin Sami alphabet, it denotes
preaspiration In phonetics, preaspiration (sometimes spelled pre-aspiration) is a period of voicelessness or aspiration preceding the closure of a voiceless obstruent, basically equivalent to an -like sound preceding the obstruent. In other words, when an obstru ...
.
In the
Ukrainian alphabet
The Ukrainian alphabet ( uk, абе́тка, áзбука алфа́ві́т, abetka, azbuka alfavit) is the set of letters used to write Ukrainian, which is the official language of Ukraine. It is one of several national variations of the ...
, U+02BC is used for the semi-letter 'apostrophe' (which plays a role similar to Russian ) in certain contexts, such as, for example, in
internationalized domain name
An internationalized domain name (IDN) is an Internet domain name that contains at least one label displayed in software applications, in whole or in part, in non-latin script or alphabet, such as Arabic, Bengali, Chinese (Mandarin, simplifie ...
s where a punctuation mark would be disallowed.
See also
*
Apostrophe
The apostrophe ( or ) is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritical mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet and some other alphabets. In English, the apostrophe is used for two basic purposes:
* The marking of the omission of one ...
*
Hamza
*
Modifier letter double apostrophe
*
Saltillo
Saltillo () is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Coahuila and is also the municipal seat of the municipality of the same name. Mexico City, Monterrey, and Saltillo are all connected by a major railroad and highwa ...
and
Okina Okina may refer to:
* ʻOkina, a letter used in some Polynesian languages, visually resembling a left single quotation mark
* Okina () or , a character from the ''Rurouni Kenshin'' manga series
* Okina, Spain, a village in the Basque Country
* , ...
, other letters used for glottal stop
*
Spacing Modifier Letters
Spacing Modifier Letters is a Unicode block containing characters for the IPA, UPA, and other phonetic transcriptions. Included are the IPA tone marks, and modifiers for aspiration and palatalization
Palatalization may refer to:
*Palatalizat ...
References
Punctuation
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