Places of Articulation
Places of articulation are often called click types, releases, or influxes. There are seven or eight known releases, not counting slapped or egressive clicks. These are (bi)labial affricated ʘ, or "(bi)labial"; laminal denti-alveolar affricated ǀ, or "dental"; apical (post)alveolar plosive ǃ, or "alveolar"; laminal postalveolar (palato-alveolar) plosive ǂ, or "palatal"; subapical postalveolar (retroflex) ǃ˞ (in Damin); apical postalveolar with lateral release; and apical postalveolar lateral ǁ. There is an additional fricated alveolar click (a historically palatal click with an s-like release), provisionally transcribed ǃ͡s, in Ekoka !Xung. Given the poor state of documentation of Khoisan languages, it is quite possible that additional releases will turn up. No language is known to contrast more than five places of articulation, though Proto-Kx'a has been reconstructed with six.
| Click release inventory |
Languages | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| dental ǀ only | Dahalo | Various nasal clicks only. |
| 1 release, variable ǀ ~ ǃ ~ ǁ | Sotho, Gciriku, Mbukushu | In Sotho the clicks tend to be alveolar, in Gciriku and Mbukushu dental. |
| 2 releases, ǀ, ǂ | Kwadi | ǂ not found with all manners |
| 2 releases, ǀ, ǁ | ǁXegwi | ǃ reacquired in loans |
| 3 releases, ǀ, ǃ, ǁ | Sandawe, Hadza, Xhosa, Zulu | In Hadza and Sandawe, ǃ is often "slapped". |
| 4 releases, ǀ, ǂ, ǃ, ǁ | Korana, Khoekhoe, Yeyi, Juǀʼhoansi | |
| 4 releases, ǀ, ǃ͡s, ǃ, ǁ | Ekoka !Kung | ⟨ǃ͡s⟩ is a provisional transcription |
| 5 releases, ʘ, ǀ, ǂ, ǃ, ǁ | ǂHõã, Nǀu, ǀXam, Taa | |
| 5 releases, ǀ, ǂ, ǃ, ǃ, ǁ | Grootfontein !Kung | |
| 5 releases, ʘ, ʘ↑, ǀ, ǃ, ǃ˞ | Damin | Nasal clicks only. |
| 6 releases, ʘ, ǀ, ǂ, ǃ, ‼, ǁ | Proto-Kx'a | (reconstructed) |
Extra-linguistically, Coatlán Zapotec of Mexico uses a linguolabial click, as mimesis for a pig drinking water.
Read more about this topic: Click Consonant
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