{{short description|Consonantal sound}} {{Infobox IPA |above={{nowrap|Lateral click type}} |ipa symbol =ǁ{{nbsp|3}}ʖ |ipa number=180 |decimal1=449 |decimal2=662 |imagefile=IPA Unicode 0x01C1.svg |xsampa=<nowiki>|\|\</nowiki> |braille=and |braille2=l }} {{Infobox IPA |above={{nowrap|Tenuis lateral click}}<br /><small>(velar)</small> |ipa symbol=kǁ{{nbsp|3}}kʖ |ipa symbol2=ᵏǁ{{nbsp|3}}ᵏʖ |ipa symbol3=ǁ{{nbsp|3}}ʖ }} {{Infobox IPA |above=Voiced lateral click<br /><small>(velar)</small> |ipa symbol=ɡǁ{{nbsp|3}}ɡʖ |ipa symbol2=ᶢǁ{{nbsp|3}}ᶢʖ |ipa symbol3=ǁ̬{{nbsp|3}}ʖ̬ }} {{Infobox IPA |above=Nasal lateral click<br /><small>(velar)</small> |ipa symbol=ŋǁ{{nbsp|3}}ŋʖ |ipa symbol2=ᵑǁ{{nbsp|3}}ᵑʖ |ipa symbol3=ǁ̃{{nbsp|3}}ʖ̃ }} {{Infobox IPA |above={{nowrap|Tenuis lateral click}}<br /><small>(uvular)</small> |ipa symbol=qǁ{{nbsp|3}}qʖ |ipa symbol2=𐞥ǁ{{nbsp|3}}𐞥ʖ }} {{Infobox IPA |above=Voiced lateral click<br /><small>(uvular)</small> |ipa symbol=ɢǁ{{nbsp|3}}ɢʖ |ipa symbol2=𐞒ǁ{{nbsp|3}}𐞒ʖ }} {{Infobox IPA |above=Nasal lateral click<br /><small>(uvular)</small> |ipa symbol=ɴǁ{{nbsp|3}}ɴʖ |ipa symbol2=ᶰǁ{{nbsp|3}}ᶰʖ }}
The '''lateral clicks''' are a family of click consonants found only in African languages. The clicking sound used by equestrians to urge on their horses is a lateral click, although it is not a speech sound in that context. Lateral clicks are found throughout southern Africa, for example in Zulu, and in some languages in Tanzania and Namibia. The place of articulation is not known to be contrastive in any language, and typically varies from alveolar to palatal.
The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents a generic lateral click is {{angbr IPA|ǁ}}, a double vertical bar.{{efn|This is encoded in Unicode as {{unichar2|ǁ}}, not to be confused with the similar {{unichar2|‖}}.}} Prior to 1989, {{angbr IPA|ʖ}}{{efn|Styled as either a digit {{angbr|5}} with the top removed, or an inverted glottal stop {{angbr|ʔ}}. It perhaps derives from a cedilla {{angbr|¸}} written in the size of a full letter.}} was the IPA letter for the lateral clicks, and this is still preferred by some phoneticians, as the vertical bar may be confounded with prosody marks, two dental clicks, and in some fonts, with a double lowercase L. Either letter may be combined with a second letter or a diacritic to indicate voicing and the manner of articulation, though this is commonly omitted for tenuis clicks.
== Lateral click consonants and their transcription == In official IPA transcription, the click letter is combined with a {{angbr IPA|k ɡ ŋ q ɢ ɴ}} via a tie bar, though {{angbr IPA|k}} is frequently omitted. Many authors instead use a superscript {{angbr IPA|k ɡ ŋ q ɢ ɴ}} without the tie bar, again often neglecting the {{angbr IPA|k}}. Either letter, whether baseline or superscript, is usually placed before the click letter, but may come after when the release of the velar or uvular occlusion is audible. A third convention is the click letter with diacritics for voicelessness, voicing and nasalization; this would require something like the guttural diacritic {{IPA|◌̴}} to distinguish uvular–lateral clicks. Common lateral clicks in these three transcriptions are:
{| class="wikitable" ! Trans. I !! Trans. II !! Trans. III !! Description |- ! colspan=4| (velar) |- | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|k͜ǁ}} | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ᵏǁ}} | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ǁ}} | ''tenuis lateral click'' |- | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|k͜ǁʰ}} | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ᵏǁʰ}} | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ǁʰ}} | ''aspirated lateral click'' |- | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ɡ͜ǁ}} | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ᶢǁ}} | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ǁ̬}} | ''voiced lateral click'' |- | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ŋ͜ǁ}} | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ᵑǁ}} | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ǁ̬̃}} | ''lateral nasal click'' |- | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ŋ̊͜ǁʰʰ}} | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ᵑ̥ǁʰʰ}} | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ǁ̥̃ʰʰ}} | ''aspirated lateral nasal click'' |- | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ŋ͜ǁˀ}} | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ᵑǁˀ}} | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ǁ̃ˀ}} | ''glottalized lateral nasal click'' |- ! colspan=4| (uvular) |- | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|q͜ǁ}} | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|𐞥ǁ}} | style="font-size:24px" align="center" | {{angbr IPA|ǁ̴}} | ''tenuis lateral click'' |- | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|q͜ǁʰ}} | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|𐞥ǁʰ}} | style="font-size:24px" align="center" | {{angbr IPA|ǁ̴ʰ}} | ''aspirated lateral click'' |- | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ɢ͜ǁ}} | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|𐞒ǁ}} | style="font-size:24px" align="center" | {{angbr IPA|ǁ̴̬}} | ''voiced lateral click'' |- | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ɴ͜ǁ}} | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ᶰǁ}} | style="font-size:24px" align="center" | {{angbr IPA|ǁ̴̬̃}} | ''lateral nasal click'' |- | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ɴ̥͜ǁʰʰ}} | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ᶰ̥ǁʰʰ}} | style="font-size:24px" align="center" | {{angbr IPA|ǁ̴̥̃ʰʰ}} | ''aspirated lateral nasal click'' |- | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ɴ͜ǁˀ}} | style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ᶰǁˀ}} | style="font-size:24px" align="center" | {{angbr IPA|ǁ̴̃ˀ}} | ''glottalized lateral nasal click'' |} The last is what is heard in the sound sample above, as non-native speakers tend to glottalize clicks to avoid nasalizing them.
In the orthographies of individual languages, the letters and digraphs for lateral clicks may be based on either the vertical bar symbol of the IPA, {{angbr IPA|ǁ}}, or on the Latin {{angbr|x}} of Bantu convention. Nama and most Bushman languages use the former; Naro, Sandawe, and Zulu use the latter.
== Features == The specific articulation of lateral clicks may vary from language to language, from dental to palatal, apical or laminal, though no contrast between such articulations has been confirmed apart from the retroflex clicks, which may have lateral release.
Features of lateral clicks: {{click manner}} * The release of the forward place of articulation is a noisy, affricate-like sound in southern Africa, but abrupt in Hadza and Sandawe in East Africa. {{oral-nasal}} * They are lateral consonants, which means they are produced by releasing the airstream at the side of the tongue, rather than in the middle. Some speakers pronounce them on one side of the mouth, some on both. {{lingual airstream}}
Regarding Khoekhoe, Tindall notes that European learners almost invariably pronounce these sounds as simple laterals, by placing the tongue against the side teeth, and that this articulation is "harsh and foreign to the native ear". The Nama instead cover the whole of the palate with the tongue, and produce the sound "as far back in the palate as possible".<ref>Tindal (1858), ''A grammar and vocabulary of the Namaqua-Hottentot language''</ref>
== Occurrence == The English language does not have a lateral click (or any click consonant, for that matter) as a phoneme, but an unreleased{{efn|In the English sound, the velar closure is not released, unlike the released sounds found in languages that combine clicks with vowels.}} lateral click does occur as an interjection, usually written ''tchick!'' or ''tchek!'' (and often reduplicated ''tchick-tchick!''), used to urge a horse to move. A form of click can also be heard by some English speakers when scoffing, but this is generally a dental click rather than a lateral click.
{| class="wikitable" ! colspan="2"|Language !! Word !! IPA!! Meaning !! Notes |- | colspan="2" | ǃKung || '''''nǁ'''an'' || align="center" | {{IPA|[ᵑǁàŋ] {{=}} [ʖ̃àŋ]}}|| 'marama bean'|| |- | colspan="2" rowspan="4" | Hadza | {{lang|hts|e'''x'''ekeke}} || align="center" | {{IPA|[ʔeᵏǁekeke] {{=}} [ʔeʖ̥ekeke]}}||'to listen'|| |- | {{lang|hts|na'''xh'''i}} || align="center" | {{IPA|[naᵏǁʰi] {{=}} [naʖ̥ʰi]}}||'to crowd'|| |- | {{lang|hts|ko'''nx'''a}} || align="center" | {{IPA|[koᵑǁa] {{=}} [koʖ̃a]}}||'to be a pair'|| |- | {{lang|hts|sla'''xx'''a}} || align="center" | {{IPA|[ɬaᵑǁˀa] {{=}} [ɬaʖ̃ˀa]}}||'a split, fork'|| |- | colspan="2" | Xhosa || {{lang|xh|isi'''Xh'''osa}} || align="center" | {{IPA|[isiᵏǁʰosa] {{=}} [isiʖ̥ʰosa]}}|| 'Xhosa language'|| Contrasts tenuis, murmured, aspirated, and nasal lateral clicks. |- | colspan="2" | !Xóõ || {{lang|nmn|'''ǁn'''áã}} || align="center" | {{IPA|[ᵑǁɑ́ɑ̃] {{=}} [ʖ̃ɑ́ɑ̃]}}|| 'grewia berry' || |- | colspan="2" | Zulu || {{lang|zu|'''x'''o'''x'''a}} || align="center" | {{IPA|[ᵏǁɔ́ːᵏǁa] {{=}} [ʖ̥ɔ́ːʖ̥a]}}|| 'to converse' || |}
== See also == * Fricated palatal click (described as having a lateral release) * Retroflex click (has a fricated lateral release)
==Notes== {{notelist}}
== References == {{reflist}} *{{cite book |last=Pullum |first=Geoffrey K. |author-link=Geoffrey K. Pullum |author2=Ladusaw, William A. |year=1996 |title=Phonetic Symbol Guide |publisher=University of Chicago Press |pages=178}}
==External links== * {{phoible|ǁ}}
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Category:Alveolar consonants Category:Click consonants Category:Lateral consonants