
With the adoption of letters from theInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) in various national alphabets,letter case forms have been developed. This usually means capital (uppercase) forms were developed, but in the case of theglottal stopʔ, both uppercase⟨Ɂ⟩ and lowercase⟨ɂ⟩ are used.
The adoption of IPA letters has been particularly notable inSub-Saharan Africa, in languages such asHausa,Fula,Akan,Gbe languages,Manding languages, andLingala. The most common areopen o⟨Ɔ ɔ⟩,open e⟨Ɛ ɛ⟩, andeng⟨Ŋ ŋ⟩, but several others are found.Kabiyé of northernTogo, for example, has⟨Ɔ ɔ,Ɛ ɛ,Ɖ ɖ,Ŋ ŋ,Ɣ ɣ,Ʃ ʃ,Ʊ ʊ⟩ (or⟨Ʋ ʋ⟩), as in this newspaper headline:
Some of the IPA letters that were adopted into language orthographies have since becomeobsolete in the IPA itself.
Following are IPA letters and their capital forms. A few of these capitals have lowercase forms that are either a variant of or distinct from the IPA letter.
| IPA | Uppercase | Lowercase |
|---|---|---|
| ɑ | Ɑ | |
| ɒ | Ɒ | |
| ɐ | Ɐ | |
| ɓ | Ɓ,Ƃ | |
| β | Ꞵ | ꞵ (Latin beta) |
| ɔ | Ɔ | |
| ð | Ð | |
| ɖ | Ɖ,Ɗ | |
| ɗ | Ɗ | |
| ə | Ə,Ǝ | |
| ɛ | Ɛ | |
| ɜ | Ɜ[2] | |
| ɡ | Ɡ,[2] G | |
| ɠ | Ɠ | |
| ɣ | Ɣ | |
| ɤ | [3] | |
| ħ | Ħ | |
| ɦ | Ɦ,Ĥ (used inNawdm) | |
| ɥ | Ɥ | |
| ɨ | Ɨ | |
| ɪ | Ɪ,[4]Ɨ (used inISO 6438) | |
| ʝ | Ʝ | |
| ɫ | Ɫ | |
| ɬ | Ɬ[5] | |
| ɱ | Ɱ | |
| ɯ | Ɯ | |
| ŋ | Ŋ | |
| ɲ | Ɲ | |
| ɵ | Ɵ | |
| ɽ | Ɽ | |
| ʀ | Ʀ | |
| ʂ | Ʂ[6] | |
| ʃ | Ʃ | |
| ʈ | Ʈ,Ŧ[7] | |
| ʉ | Ʉ | |
| ʊ | Ʊ | |
| ʋ | Ʋ | |
| ʌ | Ʌ | |
| χ | Ꭓ | ꭓ (Latin chi) |
| ʒ | Ʒ,Ʃ (reversed Ʃ)[4] | |
| θ | Θ,ϴ[7] | |
| ɸ | Φ | |
| ʔ | Ɂ | ɂ |
| ʕ | | [8] |
Others letters are the graphic equivalent of IPA capitals, but are not identified with the IPA. Examples areʗ∁ (complement symbol),ɘ∃ (existential quantifier symbol),ɟɈ (the capital ofɉ) orɟℲ (the capital ofⅎ),ɾꓩ (Lisu letter Fa),ɰꚆ (Cyrillic capital letter Cche), andʎ⅄ (the capital ofλ in Americanist usage).[7] Also, includesobsolete and nonstandard IPA symbols:
| IPA | Uppercase | Lowercase |
|---|---|---|
| ƈ | Ƈ | |
| ꞔ | Ꞔ[6] | |
| ƍ | ∇ | |
| ɩ | Ɩ | |
| ɉ | Ɉ | |
| ƙ | Ƙ | |
| ʞ | Ʞ | |
| λ | | (Latin lambda)[8] |
| ƛ | [8] | |
| ƞ | Ƞ | |
| ω | Ꞷ | ꞷ (Latin omega) |
| ƥ | Ƥ | |
| ψ | Ψ | |
| ɼ | ,[8] Γ | |
| ᴙ | Я | я (Cyrillic ya) |
| σ | Σ | |
| ƭ | Ƭ | |
| ʇ | Ʇ | |
| ɷ | [8] | |
| ᶎ | Ᶎ[6] | |
| ƹ | Ƹ |