List of Specialized Letters and Accents
The list below shows the specialized letters and accents used by the writing systems of the NWT Indigenous languages.
Letters
| Glyph | Unicode | Description | Languages | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glottal stop | Ɂ ɂ |
U+0241 (uppercase) U+0242 (lowercase) |
The glottal stop can be found in English as the sound between “uh-oh” | Tłı̨chǫ, Dene Kǝdǝ́, Dene Zhatıé, Dëne Sųłıné |
| l with stroke | Ł ł |
U+0141 (uppercase) U+0142 (lowercase) |
An L with a stroke is used to indicate a “breathy l” found in the words “flip” or “slip”. It is often seen following a “t” as in Tłı̨chǫ where it may sound closer to “cl” than “tl”. | Tłı̨chǫ, Dene Kǝdǝ́, Dene Zhatıé, Dëne Sųłıné, Dinjii Zhuʼ Ginjik, Inuvialuktun |
| Turned e | Ǝ ǝ |
U+018E (uppercase) U+01DD (lowercase) |
Sounds like “a” in mate | Dene Kǝdǝ́ |
| E with diaresis | Ë ë | E|e U+0308 | Sounds like “u” in but | Dëne Sųłıné |
| N with tilde | Ñ ñ | N|n U+0303 | Palatized n, sounds like Spanish “mañana” | Inuvialuktun |
| R with circumflex | R̂ r̂ | R|r U+0302 | Retroflex fricative sound, pronounced between English “r” and French “j” | Inuvialuktun |
| Modifier letter apostrophe | ʼ | U+02BC | Used to express ejective consonants. When occurring after a vowel in Dinjii Zhuʼ Ginjik, the apostrophe denotes a glottal stop. | Tłı̨chǫ, Dene Kǝdǝ́, Dene Zhatıé, Dëne Sųłıné, Dinjii Zhuʼ Ginjik |
Accents
| Glyph | Unicode | Description | Languages | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grave | à è ì ò | Vowel U+0300 | Low tone | Tłı̨chǫ, Dinjii Zhuʼ Ginjik |
| Acute | á é í ó ú | Vowel U+0301 | High tone | Dene Kǝdǝ́, Dene Zhatıé, Dëne Sųłıné |
| Ogonek | ą ę ı̨ į ǫ ų | Vowel U+0328 | Nasality | Tłı̨chǫ, Dene Kǝdǝ́, Dene Zhatıé, Dëne Sųłıné, Dinjii Zhuʼ Ginjik |
| Macron | ā ī ō | Vowel U+0304 | Long vowel | nēhiyawēwin |
In Tłı̨chǫ, Dene Kǝdǝ́, Dëne Sųłıné, and Dene Zhatıé, the tittle (dot) over the plain “i” is dropped for typographic clarity. It is retained in Dinjii Zhuʼ Ginjik.