2863: Numerals for Letters Oct 22, 2024

In languages that use alphabetic writing systems originally developed for other languages, or even just earlier versions of the given language, there are usually two ways of representing sounds outside of that alphabet. The first is the use of diacritic marks on the letters, and the second is by using digraphs and so on, which can be different letters like the English <th> or the same letter like the Spanish <ll> or <rr>.

One less common but equally effective way is to simply make up a new letter. Often this is a modification on an existing letter, like the Turkish İ, i obviously modeled after the lower case Latin I,i, but some languages have also borrowed from numbers. For instance, the Squamish name for its people is Sḵwx̱wú7mesh where its notable 7 is seen representing the glottal stop, quite similar to the IPA symbol for one, which is ⟨ʔ⟩, but is more available to print and type. In some Mesoamerican languages, namely Yucatec, historically <ꜭ> and <ꜫ> were used for the ejectives /k’/ and /q’/ respectively. These letters are respectively called Cuatrillo and Tresillo meaning ‘little 4 / 3’ in Spanish. While no longer in use, replaced by both diacritics and digraphs, they were some of the earliest attempts to transcribe these sounds unfamiliar to the Spanish. It was easier back then when it was not a concern to have to contend with the limitations of the printing press, nor certainly keyboards.