Latin alpha

Latin alpha (majuscule: Ɑ, minuscule: ɑ) or script a is a letter of the Latin alphabet, based on one lowercase form of a, or on the Greek lowercase alpha (α). Although ⟨ɑ⟩ is normally just an allograph of ⟨a⟩, there are instances in which the two letters must be carefully distinguished:

• In the International Phonetic Alphabet, ⟨ɑ⟩ represents an open back unrounded vowel, while ⟨a⟩ represents an open front unrounded vowel. It has the shape of a script-a.
• In the Fe'fe', Mbembe, Mbo and Muyang languages of Cameroon, ⟨Ɑ ɑ⟩ is a letter in the alphabet. It should look like the lowercase Greek alpha to better differentiate it from the letter a in script form.

Encoding

The minuscule form was present in Unicode 1.0, as U+0251 LATIN SMALL LETTER SCRIPT A. In version 1.1.5, its name was changed to LATIN SMALL LETTER ALPHA.

The majuscule form is present in Unicode 5.1 as U+2C6D.

See also

• Turned a discusses the turned Latin alpha