Voiced bilabial click
| Voiced bilabial velar click | |
|---|---|
| ɡ͡ʘ | |
| ᶢʘ | |
| ʘ̬ |
| Voiced bilabial uvular click | |
|---|---|
| ɢ͡ʘ | |
| 𐞒ʘ |
Thevoiced bilabial clickis aclick consonantfound in some of the languages of southern Africa. The symbol in theInternational Phonetic Alphabetfor a voiced bilabial click with avelarrear articulation is ⟨ɡ͡ʘ⟩ or ⟨ɡ͜ʘ⟩, commonly abbreviated to ⟨ɡʘ⟩, ⟨ᶢʘ⟩ or ⟨ʘ̬⟩. For a click with auvularrear articulation, the equivalents are ⟨ɢ͡ʘ, ɢ͜ʘ, ɢʘ, 𐞒ʘ⟩. Sometimes the accompanying letter comes after the click letter, e.g. ⟨ʘɡ⟩ or ⟨ʘᶢ⟩; this may be a simple orthographic choice, or it may imply a difference in the relative timing of the releases.[1]
Features[edit]
Features of the voiced bilabial 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 articulationisbilabial,which means it is articulated with bothlips.
- Itsphonationis voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
- It is anoral consonant,which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
- Because the sound is not produced with airflow over the tongue, thecentral–lateraldichotomy does not apply.
Occurrence[edit]
Voiced bilabial clicks only occur in theTuuandKx'afamilies of southern Africa.[2]These sounds are extremely rare and many non-native speakers find it difficult to pronounce. Thus, these sounds are sometimes transliterated as a "g" and a "G" and are pronounced asVelarandUvularPlosives.
References[edit]
- ^Afrika und Übersee.D. Reimer. 2005. pp. 93–94.
- ^Exter, Mats (2008-11-19).Properties of the Anterior and Posterior Click Closures in N|uu(text.thesis.doctoral thesis) (in German). Universität zu Köln.
