Modifier Letter Low Circumflex Accent

In Unicode-aware Windows apps, type A788 and press Alt+X.

In source code, write \uA788 in a language that accepts Unicode escapes; the notation depends on the programming language.

In one documented Lahu spelling, tone marks are written one space after the vowel. That gap belongs to the spelling; it is not a sign that ꞈ failed to attach.

What does ꞈ mark in Lahu and Akha?

It marks different low tones in the cited Lahu and Akha spellings.

In one Akha spelling system, ꞈ marks a low laryngealized vowel, spoken with a tightened throat. The Protestant Lahu spelling uses it for low checked tone: low pitch with a sharply closed syllable ending. Lahu has other spelling systems too, so that label does not cover every Lahu text.

A 2006 proposal to add ꞈ to Unicode, the digital text standard, cites an Akha-English dictionary from 1968, Akha examples from 1977, an Akha phrasebook from 1991, and a Lahu New Testament from 2003. It says these spellings needed circumflex- and caron-shaped marks rather than arrowhead shapes.

Why does ꞈ sit apart from a vowel?

It takes its own text position instead of attaching to a vowel.

The combining circumflex below, ◌̭, attaches to a base letter; ꞈ does not. The dotted circle in ◌̭ is a placeholder showing where a combining mark sits.