Gha
| Gha | |
|---|---|
| Ƣ ƣ | |
| ğ, ꝙ | |
| Usage | |
| Writing system | Latin script |
| Type | Alphabetic |
| Language of origin | Azerbaijani language |
| Sound values | [ɣ] [ʁ] |
| In Unicode | U+01A2, U+01A3 |
| Alphabetical position | 18 (after Q) |
| History | |
| Development | |
| Time period | ~1900 to 1983 |
| Descendants | • (None) |
| Sisters | Q Φ φ Փ փ Ֆ ֆ |
| Transliterations | ğ, q, g, gh, Ғ |
| Variations | ğ, ꝙ |
| Other | |
| Writing direction | Left-to-Right |
The letter Ƣ (minuscule: ƣ) was used in the Latin orthographies of various, mostly Turkic languages, such as Azeri or the Jaꞑalif orthography for Tatar. It was also included in the pinyin-based alphabets for Kazakh and Uyghur and in the 1928 Soviet Kurdish Latin alphabet. It usually represents a voiced velar fricative [ɣ] but is sometimes used for a voiced uvular fricative [ʁ]. All orthographies that used the letter were phased out, and it is not supported in all Latin fonts. It can still be seen in pre-1983 books published in the People’s Republic of China.
Historically, it is derived from a handwritten form of the small Latin letter q around 1900. The majuscule is then based on the minuscule. Its use for [ɣ] stems from the linguistic tradition of representing such sounds (and similar ones) by q in Turkic languages and in transcriptions of Arabic or Persian (compare kaf and qaf).