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Tenuis palatal click

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Tenuis palatal velar click
k͡ǂ   k͡𝼋
ᵏǂ   ᵏ𝼋
ǂ   𝼋
IPA Number179
Encoding
Entity (decimal)ǂ
Unicode (hex)U+01C2
Braille⠯ (braille pattern dots-12346)⠱ (braille pattern dots-156)
Tenuis palatal uvular click
q͡ǂ   q͡𝼋
𐞥ǂ   𐞥𝼋

The voiceless or more precisely tenuis palatal click is a click consonant found primarily among the languages of southern Africa. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet for a tenuis palatal click with a velar rear articulation is ⟨k͡ǂ⟩ or ⟨k͜ǂ⟩, commonly abbreviated to ⟨⟩, ⟨ᵏǂ⟩ or simply ⟨ǂ⟩. Linguists who prefer the old IPA letters use the analogous Beach convention[2] of ⟨k͡𝼋⟩ or ⟨k͜𝼋⟩, abbreviated ⟨k𝼋⟩, ⟨ᵏ𝼋⟩ or just ⟨𝼋⟩. For a click with a uvular rear articulation, the equivalents are ⟨q͡ǂ, q͜ǂ, qǂ, 𐞥ǂ⟩ and ⟨q͡𝼋, q͜𝼋, q𝼋, 𐞥𝼋⟩. Sometimes the accompanying letter comes after the click letter, e.g. ⟨ǂk⟩ or ⟨ǂᵏ⟩; this may be a simple orthographic choice, or may imply a difference in the relative timing of the releases.[3]

Features

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Features of the tenuis 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 voiceless, unaspirated, and unglottalized, which means it is produced without vibration or constriction of the vocal cords, and any following vowel starts 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

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Tenuis palatal clicks are only found in the various Khoisan language families of southern Africa and in the neighboring Yeyi language.

Language Word IPA Meaning
ǂHaba ǂHaba [k͜ǂʰabá] = [ᵏ𝼋ʰabá] 'ǂHaba'
Khoekhoe ǂgā-amǃnâ [k͜ǂààʔám̀ŋ͜ǃã̀ã̀] = [ᵏ𝼋ààʔám̀ᵑʗã̀ã̀] 'to put in the mouth'
Naro Qhomatcã
(Qhomaçã)
[k͜ǃʰomak͜ǂã] = [ᵏʗʰomaᵏ𝼋ã] 'Qhomatca'
Yeyi shiǂa [ʃik͜ǂa] = [ʃiᵏ𝼋a] 'scarification'

References

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  1. ^ Kirshenbaum assigns ⟨c!⟩ indifferently to both palatal and alveolar clicks.
  2. ^ Beach, Douglas Martyn (1938). The phonetics of the Hottentot language. London: W. Heffer & Sons.
  3. ^ Afrika und Übersee. D. Reimer. 2005. pp. 93–94.