Alveolar click

In official IPA transcription, the click letter is combined with a {{angbr IPA|k ɡ ŋ q ɢ ɴ}} via a tie bar, though {{angbr IPA|k}} is frequently omitted. Many authors instead use a superscript {{angbr IPA|k ɡ ŋ q ɢ ɴ}} without the tie bar, again often neglecting the {{angbr IPA|k}}. Either letter, whether baseline or superscript, is usually placed before the click letter, but may come after when the release of the velar or uvular occlusion is audible. A third convention is the click letter with diacritics for voicelessness, voicing and nasalization; it does not distinguish velar from uvular alveolar clicks. Common alveolar clicks in these three transcriptions are:

The last can be heard in the sound sample at right; non-native speakers tend to glottalize clicks to avoid nasalizing them. The nasal click may also be heard at the right.

In the orthographies of individual languages, the letters and digraphs for alveolar clicks may be based on either the vertical bar symbol of the IPA, {{angbr IPA|ǃ}}, or on the Latin {{angbr|q}} of Bantu convention. Khoekhoe and most Bushman languages use the former; Naro, Sandawe, and Zulu use the latter.

Features of postalveolar clicks:

{{click manner}}

• The forward place of articulation is alveolar or postalveolar, depending on the language, and apical, which means it is articulated with the tip of the tongue against the alveolar ridge or the roof of the mouth behind the alveolar ridge. (Damin contrasted these two articulations as separate phonemes.) The release is a sharp, plosive sound in southern Africa, but in Sandawe it may be percussive, with the underside of the tip of the tongue striking the floor of the mouth after the release of the click (see below), and in Hadza the release is often quite weak.

{{oral-nasal}}

{{central click}}

{{lingual airstream}}

English does not have an alveolar click (or any other click consonant) as a phoneme, but a plain alveolar click does occur in mimesis, as a sound children use to imitate a horse trotting.Tucker et al. (1977), The East-African Click Languages: A Phonetic Comparison

{{Infobox IPA

|above=Percussive alveolar click
(tenuis velar)

|ipa symbol=ᵏǃ͡¡

|ipa symbol2=k͜ǃꜞ

|ipa-number=|decimal=

}}

{{Infobox IPA

|above=Percussive palatal click
(nasal velar)

|ipa symbol=ᵑǂ͡¡

|ipa symbol2=ŋ͜ǂꜞ

|ipa-number=|decimal=

}}

In Sandawe, alveolar clicks commonly have a ballistic release, with the underside of the tip of the tongue subsequently striking the floor of the mouth.Wright, Richard, Ian Maddieson, Peter Ladefoged, Bonny Sands (1995). "A phonetic study of Sandawe clicks", UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics, No. 91: Fieldwork Studies in Targeted Languages III. This allophone has been called "flapped" and "slapped". Sometimes the percussive slap is louder than the release, resulting in a sound that has been characterized as a "cluck". The symbol for the sublingual percussive component is {{angbr IPA|¡}} in the extensions to the IPA; a slapped click is therefore transcribed {{angbr IPA|ǃ͡¡}} or {{angbr IPA|ǃꜞ}} (or {{angbr IPA|ʗ͡¡, ʗꜞ}}). The percussive allophones of the five Sandawe alveolar clicks are {{IPA|[ᵏǃ͡¡, ᵏǃ͡¡ʰ, ᶢǃ͡¡, ᵑǃ͡¡, ᵑǃ͡¡ˀ]}} (or {{IPA|[ᵏʗꜞ ᵏʗꜞʰ ᶢʗꜞ ᵑʗꜞ ᵑʗꜞˀ]}} etc.).

(Clement Doke also noted a palatal click with slapped release, {{IPA|[ᵑǂ¡]}}.)Clement Doke (1925) An outline of the phonetics of the language of the ʗhũ̬꞉ Bushman of the North-West Kalahari. Bantu Studies 2: 129–166.

Nasal clicks that fit this description are used by speakers of Gan Chinese (from Ningdu county) and of Mandarin (from Beijing and Jilin), and presumably people from other parts of the country, with varying degrees of competence in nursery rhymes for the words for 'goose' and 'duck', both of which begin with {{IPA|/ŋ/}} in Gan and until recently began with {{IPA|/ŋ/}} in Mandarin as well. In Gan, the nursery rhyme is (disregarding tone),

:{{IPA|[tʰien i tsʰak ᵑǃ͡¡o]}} 天一隻鵝 'a goose in the sky'

:{{IPA|[ti ha i tsʰak ᵑǃ͡¡a]}} 地下一隻鴨 'a duck on the ground'

:{{IPA|[ᵑǃ͡¡o saŋ ᵑǃ͡¡o tʰan, ᵑǃ͡¡o pʰau ᵑǃ͡¡o]}} 鵝生鵝蛋鵝孵鵝 'a goose lays a goose egg, a goose hatches a goose'

:{{IPA|[ᵑǃ͡¡a saŋ ᵑǃ͡¡a tʰan, ᵑǃ͡¡a pʰau ᵑǃ͡¡a]}} 鴨生鴨蛋鴨孵鴨 'a duck lays a duck egg, a duck hatches a duck'

where the {{IPA|/ŋ/}} onsets are all pronounced {{IPA|[ᵑǃ͡¡]}}.Geoffrey Nathan, 'Clicks in a Chinese Nursery Rhyme', JIPA (2001) 31/2.

A series of clicks in Ekoka !Kung have been variously described as retroflex or fricated palatal clicks.

• Bilabial click
• Dental click
• Lateral click
• Palatal click
• Retroflex click
• Index of phonetics articles

{{Reflist}}

• {{phoible|ǃ}}

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Category:Alveolar consonants

Category:Click consonants

Category:Percussive consonants