Voiced palatal click

The voiced palatal click is a click consonant found among the languages of southern Africa. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ǂ̬⟩ or ⟨ᶢǂ⟩. (Variations of the latter include ⟨ɡǂ⟩ and ⟨ǂɡ⟩.)

Features

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

Notes