Duployan Letter O

It marks an O vowel in Duployan shorthand.

𛱄 is a circle-vowel sign: it records a vowel within an outline of shorthand strokes, rather than spelling a word with ordinary Latin letters. Its O name describes its role in the system; it does not promise one pronunciation across every Duployan adaptation.

Émile Duployé published the shorthand in 1860 for rapid French stenography, the practice of writing speech quickly. Later adaptations served English, German, Spanish, Romanian, and other languages. In British Columbia, Father Jean-Marie-Raphaël LeJeune adapted it for Chinook Jargon and several First Nations languages. The Kamloops Wawa, published from 1891–1923, is a major surviving record. Chinook writers also used existing A, O, and U signs for sounds French did not need to mark, including schwa.

Why does 𛱄 join differently?

A joining circle vowel can change shape inside a word.

Circle vowels connect with neighboring characters, whose strokes may meet the circle at a tangent. A supported font can therefore show a partial or reshaped circle in an outline. That is positional shaping of the same character.