ʼ

Etymology
Use for glottal stop derives from the apostrophe, for example in Hawaiian (now replaced by the okina to distinguish it from an actual apostrophe).

Use to mark ejective consonants started with transliteration of Georgian script; it was an adaptation of the spiritus lenis and contrasted with the spiritus asper used to mark aspirated consonants, as the most salient distinctive feature of Georgian ejectives was that they were not aspirated. Usage extended from there to other languages with ejective consonants.

Symbol



 * 1)  an ejective consonant
 * e.g..
 * 1) transliteration of Semitic glottal stop (aleph and hamza).

Usage notes
Americanist phonetic notation may use a ̓|combining diacritic ⟨◌̓⟩ for ejective consonants.

Derived terms

 * aʼ, eʼ, iʼ, oʼ, uʼ
 * lʼ, mʼ, nʼ, wʼ, yʼ
 * bʼ, pʼ, tʼ, ʈʼ, cʼ, chʼ, chwʼ, čʼ, kʼ, kyʼ, kwʼ, ḵʼ, ḵwʼ, kpʼ, qʼ, qʼu
 * djʼ, dsʼ, tsʼ, tjʼ, tlʼ, tłʼ, txʼ, tẍʼ, tgʼ, tyʼ, tzʼ
 * sʼ, šʼ, xʼ, ȟʼ
 * ʘʼ, ǀʼ, ǀʼh, cʼh, cgʼ, dcgʼ, ǁʼ, ǁʼh, xʼh, xgʼ, dxgʼ, ǃʼ, ǃʼh, qʼh, qgʼ, dqgʼ, 𝼊ʼ, ‼ʼ, ǂʼ, ǂʼh, çʼ, çʼh, çgʼ, dçgʼ
 * ʼb, ʼd, ʼgh, ʼl, ʼm, ʼn, ʼw, ʼy

Letter

 * 1) High tone on a short vowel, as in बरʼ  'Bodo'.

Letter

 * 1) The first letter of the Chamorro alphabet, used for the glottal stop.

Dogri

 * 1) Low rising tone on a short vowel, e.g. लʼत्त 'leg'.

Letter

 * 1) The thirty-third letter of the Guaraní alphabet, called , used for the glottal stop.

Letter

 * 1)  the lateral clicks, modern $⟨ǁ⟩$. (Besides plain $⟨ʼ⟩$, it is also used for the lateral click consonants $⟨ʼk ʼg ʼn ʼh ʼkh⟩$.)
 * See also ꞏ, ꞉, ʻ.

Alternative forms

 * in Liqʼwala dialect

Usage notes
A final glottal stop is unwritten on syllables with this tone. Thus aʼ transcribes both and. Full falling tone is unmarked, except for syllables with a final glottal stop, which is transcribed $⟨⟩$.

Usage notes
A final glottal stop is unwritten. Thus /a/ with a final plosive and high tone is written abʼ adʼ agʼ aʼ for. High tone is written $⟨⟩$ with a final vowel or nasal.

Letter

 * 1) The forty-seventh letter of the Lisu alphabet.

Usage notes

 * Used to indicate nasalisation and is combined with tone marks.

Letter

 * 1) The nineteenth letter of the Navajo alphabet. It is used before or after a vowel to indicate a glottal stop.

Usage notes
Every Navajo word begins with either the glottal stop or another consonant. If an orthographic vowel begins a word, it is pronounced with a glottal stop: ooljééʼ (sometimes spelled ʼooljééʼ).

$⟨ʼ⟩$ forms the following Navajo letters: chʼ, kʼ, tʼ, tłʼ, tsʼ.

Alternative forms

 * ´

Usage notes

 * This is the first letter of the Somali alphabet, which follows Arabic abjad order. It is followed by B. It is rarely used in the initial position.

Usage notes
Marks instances of the glottal stop that alternate with nasal consonants ,   in inflection, in contrast with the letter. Often transcribed h in scholarly works.