Latin theta

Latin theta
ϴ θ
Usage
Writing system	Latin script
Type	Alphabetic and logographic
Sound values	/θ/
History
Development	𐤈 Θ θ ϴ θ
Other
Writing direction	Left-to-right
This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

Latin theta (uppercase: ϴ, lowercase: θ) is an additional letter of the Latin script, based on the lowercase letter theta from the Greek alphabet. It is used in Cypriot Arabic, Gros Ventre, Comox, Fox, Thompson, Tuscarora, Halkomelem, Wakhi, Yavapai, Havasupai–Hualapai, and Romani. ^[1] It also historically was used in the Lepsius Standard Alphabet.

Usage

The letter appears in the International Standard Alphabet of the Romani language, where it represents the voiceless alveolar plosive ([t]) when placed after a vowel, and the voiced alveolar plosive ([d]) when placed after a nasal consonant. ^[1]

In the Gros Ventre, Fox, and Comox languages, it represents the voiceless dental fricative ([θ]) sound.

It was used in the Lepsius Standard Alphabet created for transcription of Egyptian hieroglyphs and African languages. In it, it represented the voiceless dental fricative ([θ]) sound, before being replaced by the letter Ṯ.

Latin theta is also found in Cypriot Arabic and the Latin script for the Wakhi language. ^[2]

Unicode

In 2021, the Latin thetas are not separately encoded in the Unicode standard. U+03F4ϴGREEK CAPITAL THETA SYMBOL appears identical to the most common capital version; normal capital Greek theta is also seen. U+03B8θGREEK SMALL LETTER THETA appears identical to the lowercase version.

See also

• Tau gallicum, another Latin letter based on the Greek theta

References

1. Hancock 1995, p. 36.
2. Moyogo, Denis (7 August 2014). Additional proposal to encode Latin characters for theta and delta (PDF) (Report). Unicode. Retrieved 15 February 2024.

Bibliography

• Hancock, Ian (1995). A Handbook of Vlax Romani. Columbus, Ohio: Slavica Publishers. ISBN   0-89357-258-6.