The voiceless or more precisely tenuis (post)alveolar click is a click consonant found primarily among the languages of southern Africa.
The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet for a tenuis alveolar click with a velar rear articulation is ⟨k͡ǃ⟩ or ⟨k͜ǃ⟩, commonly abbreviated to ⟨kǃ⟩, ⟨ᵏǃ⟩ or simply ⟨ǃ⟩; a symbol abandoned by the IPA but still preferred by some linguists is ⟨k͡ʗ⟩ or ⟨k͜ʗ⟩, abbreviated ⟨kʗ⟩, ⟨ᵏʗ⟩ or just ⟨ʗ⟩. For a click with a uvular rear articulation, the equivalents are ⟨q͡ǃ, q͜ǃ, qǃ, 𐞥ǃ⟩ and ⟨q͡ʗ, q͜ʗ, qʗ, 𐞥ʗ⟩.
Sometimes the accompanying letter comes after the click letter, e.g. ⟨ǃk⟩ or ⟨ǃᵏ⟩; this may be a simple orthographic choice, or it may imply a difference in the relative timing of the releases.[2]
Features
Features of the tenuis (post)alveolar 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
alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal
.
Its
without significant delay
.
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
Tenuis alveolar clicks are found primarily in the various Khoisan language families of southern Africa and in some neighboring Bantu languages.
