U+11384 "𑎄" Tulu-Tigalari Letter U Unicode Character

U+11384 "𑎄" Tulu-Tigalari Letter U is a glyph from the Tulu-Tigalari script, an abugida historically used to write the Tulu language and occasionally Sanskrit in the coastal regions of Karnataka and Kerala, India. This specific character represents the vowel sound "u" and functions as the independent form of that vowel, appearing at the beginning of syllables or words where a vowel must stand alone without a preceding consonant. Its inclusion in Unicode helps to preserve and digitally enable this relatively lesser-known script, which has seen a revival in cultural and linguistic studies. The letter is part of a larger Unicode block, Tulu-Tigalari, added in version 16.0, which encompasses a range of consonants, vowel signs, and diacritics essential for accurate representation of the script's phonetic inventory.