Nasal retroflex click

Nasal retroflex velar click
ŋ͡𝼊ŋ͡‼
ᵑ𝼊ᵑ‼
𝼊̃‼̃

Nasal retroflex uvular click
ɴ͡𝼊ɴ͡‼
ᶰ𝼊ᶰ‼

Main articles:Retroflex clickandnasal click

Theretroflex nasal clickis a rareclick consonant.In practical orthography, anad hocsymbol ⟨‼⟩ is used for theretroflex clicks;a nasal click with avelarrear articulation is ⟨ŋ͡‼⟩ or ⟨ŋ͜‼⟩, commonly abbreviated to ⟨ŋ‼⟩, ⟨ᵑ‼⟩ or ⟨‼̃⟩. The implicit symbol in theInternational Phonetic Alphabetis ⟨ŋ͡𝼊⟩ or ⟨ŋ͜𝼊⟩, abbreviated ⟨ŋ𝼊⟩, ⟨ᵑ𝼊⟩ or ⟨𝼊̃⟩.Linguists who prefer theold IPA lettersuse the analogousDoke conventionof ⟨ŋ͡ψ⟩ or ⟨ŋ͜ψ⟩, abbreviated ⟨ŋψ⟩, ⟨ᵑψ⟩ or ⟨ψ̃⟩. For a click with auvularrear articulation, the equivalents are ⟨ɴ͡‼, ɴ͜‼, ɴ‼, ᶰ‼⟩, ⟨ɴ͡𝼊, ɴ͜𝼊, ɴ𝼊, ᶰ𝼊⟩ and ⟨ɴ͡ψ, ɴ͜ψ, ɴψ, ᶰψ⟩. Sometimes the accompanying letter comes after the click letter, e.g. ⟨𝼊ŋ⟩ or ⟨𝼊ᵑ⟩; this may be a simple orthographic choice, or it may imply a difference in the relative timing of the releases.

Features

Features of the retroflex nasal click:

• Theairstream mechanismislingual 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 theglottisor thelungs/diaphragm.The release of the forward closure produces the "click" sound. Voiced and nasal clicks have a simultaneouspulmonic egressiveairstream.
• Itsplace of articulationisretroflex,which prototypically means it is articulatedsubapical(with the tip of the tongue curled up), but more generally, it means that it ispostalveolarwithout beingpalatalized.That is, besides the prototypical subapical articulation, the tongue can beapical(pointed) or, in some fricatives,laminal(flat).
• Itsphonationis voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
• It is anasalconsonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the nose, either exclusively (nasal stops) or in addition to through the mouth.
• It is acentral consonant,which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.

Occurrence

Retroflex nasal clicks are only attested from two languages,Central!KungandDamin.

Language	Word	IPA	Meaning
Damin	rn!ii	[ŋ͜𝼊iː=ᵑψiː]

Glottalized alveolar nasal click

Glottalized alveolar nasal click
‼̃ˀ
ᵑ‼͜ʔ
ᵑ̊‼ˀ
ᵑ‼ˀ

Main article:Glottalized click

AllKhoisanlanguages have glottalized nasal clicks. These are formed by closing theglottisso that the click is pronounced in silence; however, any preceding vowel will be nasalized.

Language	Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Central!Kung