Modifier Letter Small Q

Its reading depends on the transcription convention. 𐞥 is a phonetic modifier in sound transcription. In a Latin-letter transcription of Akha, it marks a glottal stop—a brief closure in the throat. In one Khoisan-language convention, it marks pharyngealization: tightening the throat while a vowel is spoken. Linguist Pike used it for an unreleased [q], a back-of-mouth stop without an audible release.

Placement carries grammar: it follows the segment it modifies. Its raised form signals a modifier, while the local transcription convention supplies the specific sound value.

A formatted q can look raised, but styling does not create this separate phonetic character.

Where did superscript q come from?

It belongs to a wider phonetic-notation tradition. The International Phonetic Association archive identifies 1888 as its first alphabet and 1900 as its first full chart. Those dates place the wider tradition; they do not date this exact character.

The Unicode proposal for 𐞥 cites Pike's 1947 notation for an unreleased [q] and a 2009 source that explicitly calls the form a superscript q. In 2020, the Association argued that superscripting must remain character data because it carries phonetic information into corpora and later analysis.

The proposal maps ordinary q as 𐞥's base. That documents a structural link in the Latin script; in phonetic text, q and the modifier do different jobs.