The lateral nasal click is a click consonant found primarily among the languages of southern Africa. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet for a nasal lateral click with a velar rear articulation is ⟨ŋ͡ǁ⟩ or ⟨ŋ͜ǁ⟩, commonly abbreviated to ⟨ŋǁ⟩, ⟨ᵑǁ⟩ or ⟨ǁ̃⟩; a symbol abandoned by the IPA but still preferred by some linguists is ⟨ŋ͡ʖ⟩ or ⟨ŋ͜ʖ⟩, abbreviated ⟨ŋʖ⟩, ⟨ᵑʖ⟩ or ⟨ʖ̃⟩. For a click with a uvular rear articulation, the equivalents are ⟨ɴ͡ǁ, ɴ͜ǁ, ɴǁ, ᶰǁ⟩ and ⟨ɴ͡ʖ, ɴ͜ʖ, ɴʖ, ᶰʖ⟩. Sometimes the accompanying letter comes after the click letter, e.g. ⟨ǁŋ⟩ or ⟨ǁᵑ⟩; this may be a simple orthographic choice, or it may imply a difference in the relative timing of the releases.[1]

Nasal lateral velar click
ŋ͡ǁ   ŋ͡ʖ
ᵑǁ   ᵑʖ
ǁ̃   ʖ̃
Nasal lateral uvular click
ɴ͡ǁ   ɴ͡ʖ
ᶰǁ   ᶰʖ

Features

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Features of the lateral nasal 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 phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
  • It is a nasal consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the nose, either exclusively (nasal stops) or in addition to through the mouth.
  • It is a lateral consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream over the sides of the tongue, rather than down the middle.

Occurrence

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Lateral nasal clicks are found primarily in the various Khoisan language families of southern Africa and in some neighboring Bantu languages.[2][3]

Language Word IPA Meaning
ǃKung an [ᵑǁàŋ] = [ᵑʖàŋ] 'marama bean'
!Xóõ ǁnáã [ᵑǁɑ́ɑ̃] = [ᵑʖɑ́ɑ̃] 'grewia berry'
Hadza konxa [koᵑǁa] = [koᵑʖa] 'to be a pair'
Zulu inxeba [iᵑǁɛ́ːɓa] = [iᵑʖɛ́ːɓa] 'wound'

Glottalized lateral nasal click

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Glottalized
lateral nasal click
ǁ̃ˀ
ᵑǁ͡ʔ
ᵑ̊ǁˀ
ʖ̃͜ʔ
ᵑʖˀ

All Khoisan languages, and a few Bantu languages, have glottalized nasal clicks. These are formed by closing the glottis so that the click is pronounced in silence; however, any preceding vowel will be nasalized.

Language Word IPA Meaning
Hadza slaxxa [ɬaᵑǁˀa] = [ɬaᵑʖˀa] 'a split'
Khoekhoe tsoatsoaǁaposa [tsȍàtsòȁᵑǁˀàpòsa̋] = [tsȍàtsòȁᵑʖˀàpòsa̋] 'principled'
Xhosa inkxumo [iᵑǁˀumo] = [iᵑʖˀumo] 'a support'

References

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  1. ^ Afrika und Übersee. D. Reimer. 2005. pp. 93–94.
  2. ^ Bradfield, Julian (May 2014). "Clicks, concurrency and Khoisan*". Phonology. 31 (1): 1–49. doi:10.1017/S0952675714000025. hdl:20.500.11820/63d01bc8-a4db-4cda-a4b4-0ca84d088522. ISSN 0952-6757. S2CID 14896878.
  3. ^ Miller, Amanda L.; Brugman, Johanna; Sands, Bonny; Namaseb, Levi; Exter, Mats; Collins, Chris (August 2009). "Differences in airstream and posterior place of articulation among Nǀuu clicks". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 39 (2): 129–161. doi:10.1017/S0025100309003867. ISSN 1475-3502. S2CID 46194815.