Voiced palatal click
| Voiced palatal velar click | |
|---|---|
| ɡ͡ǂ | |
| ᶢǂ | |
| ǂ̬ |
| Voiced palatal uvular click | |
|---|---|
| ɢ͡ǂ | |
| (etc) |
The voiced palatal click is a click consonant found among the languages of southern Africa.[1] The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ǂ̬⟩ or ⟨ᶢǂ⟩. Variations of the latter include ⟨ɡǂ⟩ and ⟨ǂɡ⟩.
Features[edit]
Features of the voiced palatal click:
- The airstream mechanism is lingual ingressive (also known as velaric ingressive), which means a pocket of air trapped between two closures is rarefied by a "sucking" action of the tongue, rather than being moved by the glottis or the lungs/diaphragm. The release of the forward closure produces the "click" sound. Voiced and nasal clicks have a simultaneous pulmonic egressive airstream.
- Its place of articulation is palatal, which means it is articulated with the middle or back part of the tongue raised to the hard palate.
- Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
- It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
- It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
Occurrence[edit]
Voiced palatal clicks are only found in the various Khoisan language families of southern Africa and in the neighboring Yeyi language.
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Naro | dtcòo tcgáí (dçòo çgáí) |
[ᶢǂòː ǂχáí] = [ǂ̬òː ǂχáí] | 'torch' |
| Yeyi | ugǂoara | [uᶢǂo̯aɾa] = [uǂ̬o̯aɾa] | 'chameleon' |
References[edit]
- ^ Ladefoged, Peter; Traill, Anthony (1994-01-01). "Clicks and their accompaniments". Journal of Phonetics. 22 (1): 33–64. doi:10.1016/S0095-4470(19)30266-9. ISSN 0095-4470.
