ʲ

ʲ (Modifier Letter Small J, U+02B2) is a small, superscript version of the lowercase Latin letter 'j', primarily used in phonetic transcription, especially within the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Its main purpose is to denote palatalization, a secondary articulation where the middle of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate during the production of another consonant. For instance, in linguistics, /tʲ/ would represent a palatalized 't' sound, common in languages like Russian. As a "modifier letter" in Unicode, it's designed to subtly alter the sound of the preceding character, rather than standing alone. This character is vital for linguists and phoneticians to accurately capture the subtle but significant nuances of speech sounds across the world's languages, distinguishing it from the full-sized lowercase 'j' (U+006A) and other standalone palatal consonants like /j/ (the palatal approximant).