Voiced alveolar click

The voiced (post)alveolar click is a click consonant found primarily among the languages of southern Africa. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ǃ̬ or ᶢǃ; a symbol abandoned by the IPA but still preferred by some linguists is ʗ̬ or ᶢʗ.

Voiced alveolar velar click
ɡ͡ǃ
ᶢǃ
ǃ̬
ᶢʗ
Voiced alveolar uvular click
ɢ͡ǃ
(etc)

In languages which use the Bantu letters for clicks, this is most commonly written gq, but it is written dq in those languages that use g for the uvular fricative.

Features

Features of the voiced (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 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

Voiced alveolar clicks are found primarily in the various Khoisan language families of southern Africa and in some neighboring Bantu languages.

Language Word IPA Meaning
Naro dqòma tcg'òó [ᶢǃòmā ǂqχʼǒː] = [ʗ̬òmā ʄχʼǒː] (place name)
Sandawe gqakina [ᶢǃàkʰíná] = [ʗ̬àkʰíná] 'to carry hidden'
Yeyi kaawa [kaᶢǃawa] = [kaʗ̬awa] 'calabash'

Notes

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