Modifier Letter Mid Tone Bar

Modifier Letter Mid Tone Bar at U+02E7 marks a level mid pitch in tone notation, especially in phonetic transcription. It belongs to the Spacing Modifier Letters block, whose characters modify or annotate nearby sounds while occupying their own spacing position rather than combining over a base letter. Its main use is in the International Phonetic Alphabet and related linguistic writing for tonal languages. A mid tone may be written after a syllable to show that the voice stays around the middle of the speaker’s pitch range, as in transcriptions of Mandarin, Cantonese, Yoruba, Thai, or other languages where pitch distinguishes word meaning. It is also used as one element in Chao tone-letter sequences, where adjacent tone bars trace pitch movement. For example, a sequence using low, mid, and high tone bars can represent a rising or falling contour, while a repeated mid bar can indicate a level mid tone. Linguists, dictionaries, language-learning materials, and fieldwork notes use these tone letters when ordinary accent marks or tone numbers are not precise enough.