Voiced bilabial click

The voiced bilabial click is a click consonant found in some of the languages of southern Africa. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ʘ̬⟩ or ⟨ᶢʘ⟩.

Features

Features of the voiced bilabial 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 bilabial, which means it is articulated with both lips.

• 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.

• Because the sound is not produced with airflow over the tongue, the central–lateral dichotomy does not apply.

Occurrence

Voiced bilabial clicks only occur in the Tuu and Kx'a families of southern Africa.

Notes