Tenuis alveolar click

(Tenuis) alveolar click
ǃ
ʗ
IPA number 178
Encoding
Entity (decimal) ǃʗ
Unicode (hex) U+01C3U+0297
Kirshenbaum c![1]
Unicode character name for ǃ is LATIN LETTER RETROFLEX CLICK
Sound
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Main article: Alveolar clicks

The voiceless or more precisely tenuis (post)alveolar click is a click consonant found primarily among the languages of southern Africa. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ǃ. The Doke/Beach convention, adopted for a time by the IPA and still preferred by some linguists, is ʗ.

Features

Features of the tenuis (post)alveolar click:

Occurrence

Tenuis alveolar clicks are found primarily in the various Khoisan language families of southern Africa and in some neighboring Bantu languages.

Language Word IPA Meaning
Hadza laqo [laǃo] = [laʗo]'to trip'
Khoekhoe ǃgabe [ǃȁwé] = [ʗȁwé] 'to speak a Khoisan language'
Sesotho ho qoqa [hʊǃɔǃɑ] = [hʊʗɔʗɑ]'to chat'
Xhosa iqanda [iǃanda] = [iʗanda]'egg'
Zulu iqaqa [iːǃáːǃa] = [iːʗáːʗa]'polecat'

Notes

  1. Kirshembaum assigns c! indifferently to both alveolar and palatal clicks.
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