Click

From UniLang Wiki

One of the most distinctive types of NON-PULMONIC sound is the CLICK. They are sharp, suction noises, made by the tongue or lips. While making a click sound, it is possible to breathe in and out, quite independently, showing tht lungs are not involved in their production.

In European Languages, isolated click sounds are often heard as meaningful noises, such as "tsk-tsk", but they are not part of their system of vowels and consonants.

The "tut-tut" click, for instance, expresses approval in English, but the sound is not used as part of a word, in the way that /t/ and /p/ are. However, in many other languages, clicks are used as consonants.

Most well known aresome of the languages of southern Africa, often referred to as "Click Languages".

!Xu is one of such language (! is a post-alveolar click), with as many as 48 CLICKS!!!!. The Khoisan languages have the most complex click systems, using many different places of articulation in the mouth, and involving simultaneous use of other sounds made in the throat or nose.


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Translations

  • Swedish: klickljud n

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