Latin alpha
Ɑ ɑ
Usage
Writing system	Latin script
Type	alphabetic
Phonetic usage	[ɑ]
Unicode codepoint	U+2C6D, U+0251
History
Development	A a/Α α Ɑ ɑ
Time period	1890s to present
Sisters	A, Ɒ
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 alpha (majuscule: Ɑ, minuscule: ɑ), script a, or single-story a, is a letter of the Latin alphabet based on one lowercase form of a, or on the Greek lowercase alpha (α).

Usage

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.
• Also in the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages, ⟨Ɑ ɑ⟩ usually represents an open back unrounded vowel, while ⟨A a⟩ represents an open front unrounded vowel. The former is used in the orthographies of several languages of Cameroon, including:
  • Feʼfeʼ^[1][2]
  • Mbembe^[3]
  • Mbo (?): but not Akoose, though it does have phonemes /aa/ and /ɑɑ/;^[4] nor Bakaka.^[5]
  • in some languages, the script-a form (also called literacy form) of the letter ⟨A a⟩, with the lowercase much like the IPA ⟨ɑ⟩, is used and should not be confused with the Latin alpha ⟨Ɑ ɑ⟩ of the GACL; for example, in Muyang, the literacy ⟨A a⟩ represents an open-mid central unrounded vowel but it is not ⟨Ɑ ɑ⟩; the Latin alpha is not used.^[6]
• In typography, it is sometimes referred to as the single-story a, to distinguish it from double-story a.

In Cameroon languages, ⟨Ɑ ɑ⟩ must look like the classical lowercase Greek alpha to better differentiate it from the letter a in script form.

U+1D45 ᵅ MODIFIER LETTER SMALL ALPHA is used in the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet.^[7]

U+AB30 ꬰ LATIN SMALL LETTER BARRED ALPHA is used in the Teuthonista phonetic transcription system.^[8]

U+AB64 ꭤ LATIN SMALL LETTER INVERTED ALPHA is used in Americanist phonetic notation.^[9]

Typography

Encoding and forms

In Unicode, "Latin alpha" () and "Latin script a" () are considered to be the same character, which has an uppercase and a lowercase form and is referred to as "Latin letter alpha".