Barred lambda

Barred lambda
Barred lambda
Ƛ ƛ
Usage
Writing system	Latin script
Type	alphabetic
Language of origin	Americanist phonetic notation
Sound values	/tɬ/;
In Unicode	U+A7DC, U+019B
History
Development	Λ λ Ꟛ λ Ƛ ƛ; ;
	This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

This article contains special characters. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols.

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] It is also used in Americanist phonetic notation, where it is also known as running man,^[2] to transcribe [t͡ɬ]. In physics, it represents the reduced Compton wavelength, i.e. the Compton wavelength λ divided by 2 $π$ .

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.^[3]

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. In addition, its counterpart with a combining comma above right (U+0315), ƛ̓ [fr], is used for many of the Salish languages, such as Klallam, for an ejective lateral affricate [t͡ɬʼ].

Encodings

Character information
Preview	Ƛ		ƛ
Unicode name	LATIN CAPITAL LETTER LAMBDA WITH STROKE		LATIN SMALL LETTER LAMBDA WITH STROKE
Encodings	decimal	hex	dec	hex
Unicode	42972	U+A7DC	411	U+019B
UTF-8	234 159 156	EA 9F 9C	198 155	C6 9B
Numeric character reference	Ƛ	Ƛ	ƛ	ƛ

References

^ 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).
^ [1] Archived 2008-07-03 at the Wayback Machine (strictly speaking, this refers to the glottalized version, [t͡ɬʼ])
^ 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.

This article related to the Latin script is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information.

[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] [1] Archived 2008-07-03 at the Wayback Machine (strictly speaking, this refers to the glottalized version, [t͡ɬʼ])

[3] 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.

[1]

[2]

[3]