So, for those of you unaware, I've been working on a quasi-phonetic alphabet for a very very long time. The goals are:
1) use the entire original alphabet
2) use the extensions in a way that aligns with as many systems as possible
3) use letter case (because I'm trying to stick true to how latin alphabet works, even though this feature is something I personally don't like much)
4) use additions that are as distinct as possible
5) make the system as regular as possible
The points 3) and 4) make it impossible to go the way of IPA and use a shitload of smallcaps symbols and various typographic variants signifying different phonemes. According to point 2) I decided then to go with a regular system of recognisable diacritics. I've maximally simplified the distinction by place of articulation (to labial, coronal, dorsal, laryngeal, + sibilant & lateral specials). I still had to introduce plenty of additional letters, the full inventory stands at 48.
I'm now almost satisfied with the end result, but there is one thing that bothers me: the letter Qq. I have two solutions how to complete the system;
1) use Qq for the guttural R ("dorsal vibrant"), and ʔ for the glottal stop (standard usage in phonetics), with a mirrored hamza-like (ء) uppercase – kind of like an open Q (but this leaves the 2-like variant cursive Q incompatible) – not encoded in Unicode, it's possible to mock it up using open O and ogonek: Ɔ̨. Fairly elegant, but seeing q's to denote the guttural Rs in French and German looks too counterintuitive.
2) use a rho-based ♇ϱ for the guttural R. Originally (10 years ago) I had rho for the voiceless R based on how it was devoiced in original Greek when word-initial or doubled, but that turned out too irregular compared to the rest of the system. I guess using 'rh' for the guttural R is kinda intuitive too. It'd also be possible to use lowercase ɽ instead of ϱ, but I'm not sure, the hooked descender looks a bit weird & I lose the rationalization that the letter is a rho that way. Then Qq is used for the glottal stop, which is how Maltese uses it, and also some odd languages here and there (Võro, Shanghainese romanization, and I believe some languages in the Pacific too)
Thoughts? I'm not sure which one looks nicer; the rho is a bit too distinct shape-wise (doesn't look in line with the rest of letters) and ʔ for glottal stop is a very standard phonetic letter, I feel like I shouldn't discard it like that. Q ends up being used in a weird way either way, though it looks less counterintuitive for me in the glottal stop position than in the guttural R.
Complimentary are three renditions of Der Nordwind und die Sonne, a text typically used in phonetic demonstrations, in German translation, to showcase how guttural R's show (I hope I didn't make too many mistakes typing this out):