Barred lambda

The barred lambda (Ƛ ƛ) (U+A7DC Ƛ LATIN CAPITAL LETTER LAMBDA WITH STROKE, U+019B ƛ LATIN SMALL LETTER LAMBDA WITH STROKE), is a modified letter of the Greek alphabet, commonly encountered in North American linguistics. It is used by the Salishan and Wakashan languages in Canada.^[1] It is also used in Americanist phonetic notation, where it is also known as running man,^[2] to transcribe [t͡ɬ]. In physics, it is used to represent the angular wavelength, i.e. the wavelength (λ) divided by 2π (τ), which corresponds to the length taken up by one radian of the wave.

Cased forms of the barred lambda. The capital was assigned to Unicode in 2024.

Barred lambda
Ƛ ƛ
Usage
Writing system	Latin script
Type	alphabetic
Language of origin	Americanist phonetic notation
Sound values	/tɬ/
In Unicode	U+A7DC, U+019B
History
Development	Λ λ Ꟛ λ Ƛ ƛ
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.

It was first used in a phonetics context in American Anthropologist in 1934:

λ for [dl] has been used in Eskimo by Jenness ... ƛ for [tł] is an innovation formed from λ as ł from l.^[3]

It is also used for the affricate [t͡ɬ] in transcribing the Sahaptin language, e.g., iƛúpna ‘he jumped’, and it is commonly used for the same purpose in several languages of the Caucasus. In addition, its counterpart with a combining comma above right (U+0315), ƛ̓ [fr], is used for many of the Salish languages, such as Klallam, for an ejective lateral affricate [t͡ɬʼ].

Encodings

Character information

Preview	Ƛ		ƛ
Unicode name	LATIN CAPITAL LETTER LAMBDA WITH STROKE		LATIN SMALL LETTER LAMBDA WITH STROKE
Encodings	decimal	hex	dec	hex
Unicode	42972	U+A7DC	411	U+019B
UTF-8	234 159 156	EA 9F 9C	198 155	C6 9B
Numeric character reference	Ƛ	Ƛ	ƛ	ƛ