Nasal alveolar click

The alveolar nasal click is a click consonant found primarily among the languages of southern Africa.[1] The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet for a nasal alveolar click with a velar rear articulation is ⟨ŋ͡ǃ⟩ or ⟨ŋ͜ǃ⟩, commonly abbreviated to ⟨ŋǃ⟩, ⟨ᵑǃ⟩ or ⟨ǃ̃⟩; a symbol abandoned by the IPA but still preferred by some linguists is ⟨ŋ͡ʗ⟩ or ⟨ŋ͜ʗ⟩, abbreviated ⟨ŋʗ⟩, ⟨ᵑʗ⟩ or ⟨ʗ̃⟩. For a click with a uvular rear articulation, the equivalents are ⟨ɴ͡ǃ, ɴ͜ǃ, ɴǃ, ᶰǃ⟩ and ⟨ɴ͡ʗ, ɴ͜ʗ, ɴʗ, ᶰʗ⟩. Sometimes the accompanying letter comes after the click letter, e.g. ⟨ǃŋ⟩ or ⟨ǃᵑ⟩; this may be a simple orthographic choice, or it may imply a difference in the relative timing of the releases.[2]

Nasal alveolar velar click
ŋ͡ǃ   ŋ͡ʗ
ᵑǃ   ᵑʗ
ǃ̃   ʗ̃
Nasal alveolar uvular click
ɴ͡ǃ   ɴ͡ʗ
ᶰǃ   ᶰʗ
Main articles: Alveolar click and nasal click

Features

Features of the alveolar nasal 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 alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal.
  • Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
  • It is a nasal consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the nose, either exclusively (nasal stops) or in addition to through the mouth.
  • 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

Alveolar nasal clicks are found primarily in the various Khoisan language families of southern Africa and in some neighboring Bantu languages such as Yeyi.[3]

Language Word IPA Meaning
ǃKung nǃan [ᵑǃáŋ] = [ᵑʗáŋ] 'inside'
Damin n!2u [ᵑǃᵑǃu] = [ᵑʗᵑʗu] 'water'
Hadza henqee [ɦeŋᵑǃeʔe] = [ɦeŋᵑʗeʔe] 'dead leopard'
Khoekhoe xuruǃomǃnâ [xȕɾúᵑǃˀóm̀ᵑǃã̀ã̀] = [xȕɾúᵑʗˀóm̀ᵑʗã̀ã̀] 'to yank at something'
Zulu inqola [iᵑǃɔ́ːla] = [iᵑʗɔ́ːla] 'cart'

Glottalized alveolar nasal click
Glottalized
alveolar nasal click
ǃ̃ˀ
ᵑǃ͡ʔ
ᵑ̊ǃˀ
ʗ̃͡ʔ
ᵑʗˀ
Main article: Glottalized click

All Khoisan languages, and a few Bantu languages, have glottalized nasal clicks. These are formed by closing the glottis so that the click is pronounced in silence; however, any preceding vowel will be nasalized.

Language Word IPA Meaning
Hadza teqqe [teᵑǃˀe] = [teᵑʗˀe] 'to carry'
Khoekhoe xuruǃomǃnâ [xȕɾúᵑǃˀóm̀ᵑǃã̀ã̀] = [xȕɾúᵑʗˀóm̀ᵑʗã̀ã̀] 'to yank at something'
Xhosa ukuqhankqalaza [ukʼuᵏǃʰaᵑǃˀalaza] = [ukʼuᵏʗʰaᵑʗˀalaza] 'to struggle'

References
  1. Knight, Rachael-Anne (2012-01-26). Phonetics: A Coursebook. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-50419-5.
  2. Afrika und Übersee. D. Reimer. 2005. pp. 93–94.
  3. Sands, Bonny (2020-09-25). Click Consonants. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-42435-7.
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