The bilabial nasal click is a

click consonant Click consonants, or clicks, are speech sounds that occur as consonants in many languages of Southern Africa and in three languages of East Africa. Examples familiar to English-speakers are the '' tut-tut'' (British spelling) or '' tsk! tsk!'' ...

found in some of the languages of southern Africa. The symbol in the

International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic transcription, phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standa ...

that represents this sound is or .

Features

Features of the bilabial nasal click:

Occurrence

Bilabial nasal clicks only occur in the Tuu and Kx'a families of southern Africa, in the Australian ritual language

Damin Damin ( in the practical orthography of Lardil) was a ceremonial language register used by the advanced initiated men of the aboriginal Lardil ( in the practical orthography) and Yangkaal peoples of northern Australia. Both inhabit island ...

, and for /mw/ in some of the languages neighboring Shona, such as at least for some speakers of Ndau and

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

Glottalized bilabial nasal click

The Tuu and Kx'a languages also have glottalized nasal clicks. These are formed by closing the

glottis The glottis is the opening between the vocal folds (the rima glottidis). The glottis is crucial in producing vowels and voiced consonants. Etymology From Ancient Greek ''γλωττίς'' (glōttís), derived from ''γλῶττα'' (glôtta), va ...

so that the click is pronounced in silence; however, any preceding vowel will be nasalized.

Notes

{{IPA navigation Bilabial consonants Click consonants Nasal consonants Voiced consonants