What ᷇ means
Put it immediately after the letter it modifies. In a Unicode-aware editor, enter the base letter first and then ᷇. Praat's documented input trigraph is \ef\'-.
What does ᷇ mean?
It marks a high-to-mid falling pitch contour. The base letter supplies the speech sound; ᷇ adds the pitch movement, as in ɛ᷇.
Tone can distinguish words or grammar. The writing convention depends on the language or transcription: a writer may mark every tone, only tones needed to avoid ambiguity, or use another notation.
The encoding proposal's earliest cited example is from Leoma G. Gilley's 1992 study of Shilluk sound patterns; Constance Kutsch Lojenga's 1993 study gives further examples from Bantu languages. An encoding proposal gave the contour a dedicated combining character. Chinese linguist Chao Yuen Ren developed a related system of bar-shaped tone letters; the notations do not correspond one-to-one.
Why does ᷇ look wrong?
The base letter and font affect where the mark lands. Because ᷇ is a combining mark, it follows its base in text. A font without the mark, or one with poor mark placement, can leave it detached or hard to read. Praat recommends Charis SIL or Doulos SIL for phonetic diacritics.
Check the order: ɛ᷄ rises from high, while ɛ᷇ falls from high to mid.
Specialist phonetic or tone-writing notation; it signals a transcription or language-documentation context.
Part of the collection
Don't confuse it with
3/ Acute–macron vs macron–acute: the first falls from high to mid; the second rises from high. The order changes the contour.
An acute alone marks high tone in this transcription; it does not show the two-part fall.
Chao tone letters are separate bar-shaped signs for pitch levels; they are related to contour notation, not this combining mark.
Combination ideas
1Questions people ask
2Why does ᷇ float by itself?
It is a combining mark, so it needs a base letter before it in the text. If it sits by itself, the base may be missing or the font may not place it correctly.
Is ᷇ a stress mark?
No. ᷇ records pitch movement; stress marks which syllable is prominent. Follow the tone-writing convention of the language or transcription you're using.
More like this
10
How to type or find ᷇
- Search it as
- IPA · diacritic · tone mark · falling tone · high-falling tone · phonetic transcription · acute-macron · macron-acute
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
᷇\1DC7\ef\'-, Praat's documented input trigraph.Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.