Kra (letter)
Encyclopedia
Kra is a character formerly used to write the Kalaallisut language of Greenland
and is now only found in the Labrador Inuit Language of Inuttitut, a distinct Inuktitut
dialect
. It is visually similar to a Latin
small capital letter K
and the Greek
letter kappa κ
.
It is used to denote the sound written as [q] in the International Phonetic Alphabet
(the voiceless uvular plosive). For collation
purposes, it is therefore considered to be a type of q
, rather than a type of k
, and should sort near q.
Its Unicode code point for the lowercase form is decimal 312 and hexadecimal U+0138. If this is unavailable, q is substituted. The letter can be capitalized as Κʻ, but it is not encoded separately as a single letter because it is very similar to the Latin capital letter K followed by the six-shaped apostrophe (turned high comma ʻ).
In 1973, a spelling reform replaced the use of Kra with Latin small letter q (and the associated Latin capital letter Q).
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
and is now only found in the Labrador Inuit Language of Inuttitut, a distinct Inuktitut
Inuktitut
Inuktitut or Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, Eastern Canadian Inuit language is the name of some of the Inuit languages spoken in Canada...
dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
. It is visually similar to a Latin
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
small capital letter K
K
K is the eleventh letter of the English and basic modern Latin alphabet.-History and usage:In English, the letter K usually represents the voiceless velar plosive; this sound is also transcribed by in the International Phonetic Alphabet and X-SAMPA....
and the Greek
Greek alphabet
The Greek alphabet is the script that has been used to write the Greek language since at least 730 BC . The alphabet in its classical and modern form consists of 24 letters ordered in sequence from alpha to omega...
letter kappa κ
Kappa
Kappa is the 10th letter of the Greek alphabet, used to represent the voiceless velar stop, or "k", sound in Ancient and Modern Greek. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 20. It was derived from the Phoenician letter Kaph...
.
It is used to denote the sound written as [q] in the International Phonetic Alphabet
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...
(the voiceless uvular plosive). For collation
Collation
Collation is the assembly of written information into a standard order. One common type of collation is called alphabetization, though collation is not limited to ordering letters of the alphabet...
purposes, it is therefore considered to be a type of q
Q
Q is the seventeenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.- History :The Semitic sound value of Qôp was , a sound common to Semitic languages, but not found in English or most Indo-European ones...
, rather than a type of k
K
K is the eleventh letter of the English and basic modern Latin alphabet.-History and usage:In English, the letter K usually represents the voiceless velar plosive; this sound is also transcribed by in the International Phonetic Alphabet and X-SAMPA....
, and should sort near q.
Its Unicode code point for the lowercase form is decimal 312 and hexadecimal U+0138. If this is unavailable, q is substituted. The letter can be capitalized as Κʻ, but it is not encoded separately as a single letter because it is very similar to the Latin capital letter K followed by the six-shaped apostrophe (turned high comma ʻ).
In 1973, a spelling reform replaced the use of Kra with Latin small letter q (and the associated Latin capital letter Q).