Modifier Letter Up Tack

It marks the preceding sound as more raised or closer. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), a system for writing speech sounds, uses ˔ as a relational mark: it modifies the base symbol before it rather than naming a sound by itself. After a vowel, it signals a higher vowel; after an approximant—a consonant made with narrowed but still open airflow—it signals a tighter constriction that may add friction.

An IPA chart from 1926 describes it as marking a slightly raised tongue. The 1928 chart leaves ˔ out; the 1947 chart shows ˔ and its paired ˕ also appearing below a symbol as attached marks. Both marks thus have two placements: after a sound as spacing modifiers, or attached underneath it.

Why is ˔ written after the letter?

It takes its own space when a mark below will not fit. The combining up tack below ◌̝ attaches beneath its base; ˔ follows the base as a separate spacing character.

A 2024 Unicode proposal describes ˔ as a spacing form for raised articulation. It also notes that putting the mark before a length sign can look awkward, so attached forms are often preferred. A 2019 Unicode proposal for Scots phonetic encoding cites e˔ for a higher vowel in regional transcription material.