Ejective-contour clicks, also called sequential linguo-glottalic consonants, are consonants that transition from a
click to an
ejective
In phonetics, ejective consonants are usually voiceless consonants that are pronounced with a glottalic egressive airstream. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated, voiced and tenuis consonants. Some l ...
sound, or more precisely, have an audible delay between the front and rear release of the click. All click types (
alveolar Alveolus (; pl. alveoli, adj. alveolar) is a general anatomical term for a concave cavity or pit.
Uses in anatomy and zoology
* Pulmonary alveolus, an air sac in the lungs
** Alveolar cell or pneumocyte
** Alveolar duct
** Alveolar macrophage
* ...
,
dental ,
lateral
Lateral is a geometric term of location which may refer to:
Healthcare
*Lateral (anatomy), an anatomical direction
*Lateral cricoarytenoid muscle
*Lateral release (surgery), a surgical procedure on the side of a kneecap
Phonetics
*Lateral cons ...
,
palatal
The palate () is the roof of the mouth in humans and other mammals. It separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity.
A similar structure is found in crocodilians, but in most other tetrapods, the oral and nasal cavities are not truly separ ...
,
retroflex
A retroflex ( /ˈɹɛtʃɹoːflɛks/), apico-domal ( /əpɪkoːˈdɔmɪnəl/), or cacuminal () consonant is a coronal consonant where the tongue has a flat, concave, or even curled shape, and is articulated between the alveolar ridge and the ha ...
, and
labial
The term ''labial'' originates from '' Labium'' (Latin for "lip"), and is the adjective that describes anything of or related to lips, such as lip-like structures. Thus, it may refer to:
* the lips
** In linguistics, a labial consonant
** In zoolog ...
) have linguo-glottalic variants, which occur as both stops and affricates, and may be
voiced
Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds (usually consonants). Speech sounds can be described as either voiceless (otherwise known as ''unvoiced'') or voiced.
The term, however, is used to refer ...
. At least a voiceless linguo-glottalic affricate is attested from all
Khoisan languages
The Khoisan languages (; also Khoesan or Khoesaan) are a group of African languages originally classified together by Joseph Greenberg. Khoisan languages share click consonants and do not belong to other African language families. For much of th ...
of southern Africa (the
Khoe
Maharishi International University (MIU), formerly Maharishi University of Management, is a private university in Fairfield, Iowa. It was founded in 1973 by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and features a "consciousness-based education" system that include ...
,
Tuu, and
Kx'a language families), as well as from the Bantu language
Yeyi Yeyi may refer to:
*Ye County, Henan, China, formerly known as Yeyi
* Yeyi people
*Yeyi language
Yeyi (autoethnonym ''Shiyɛyi'') is a Bantu languages, Bantu language spoken by many of the approximately 50,000 Yeyi people along the Okavango Rive ...
from the same area, but they are unattested elsewhere.
Analysis
Traditionally, contour clicks were believed to be
uvular
Uvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mouth than velar consonants. Uvulars may be stops, fricatives, nasals, trills, or approximants, though the IPA does not prov ...
in their rear articulation, whereas non-contour clicks were thought to be
velar
Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth (known also as the velum).
Since the velar region of the roof of the mouth is relatively extensive a ...
. However, it is now known that all clicks are uvular, at least in the languages which have been investigated, and that the articulation of these clicks is more complex than that of others but no different in location. Linguists now analyze them as either
contour
Contour may refer to:
* Contour (linguistics), a phonetic sound
* Pitch contour
* Contour (camera system), a 3D digital camera system
* Contour, the KDE Plasma 4 interface for tablet devices
* Contour line, a curve along which the function ha ...
s (that is, as a transition from one kind of sound to another within a single consonant) or as sequences of a click followed by a
uvular consonant
Uvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mouth than velar consonants. Uvulars may be stops, fricatives, nasals, trills, or approximants, though the IPA does not provi ...
(that is, as
consonant cluster
In linguistics, a consonant cluster, consonant sequence or consonant compound, is a group of consonants which have no intervening vowel. In English, for example, the groups and are consonant clusters in the word ''splits''. In the education fie ...
s). See
pulmonic-contour clicks for discussion.
Description
Phonetically, a linguo-glottalic consonant is a click in which the forward and rear articulations are released independently. The forward articulation, made with the lips or the front of the tongue, releases with a
lingual airstream
In phonetics, the airstream mechanism is the method by which airflow is created in the vocal tract. Along with phonation and articulation, it is one of three main components of speech production. The airstream mechanism is mandatory for sound pr ...
as in any click. The rear articulation, however, is held longer, and when it is released, it is with a
glottalic airstream
In phonetics, the airstream mechanism is the method by which airflow is created in the vocal tract. Along with phonation and articulation, it is one of three main components of speech production. The airstream mechanism is mandatory for sound pr ...
. (Linguo-pulmonic consonants are similar, except that the second release is
pulmonic
In phonetics, the airstream mechanism is the method by which airflow is created in the vocal tract. Along with phonation and articulation, it is one of three main components of speech production. The airstream mechanism is mandatory for sound p ...
, as in English consonants.) That is, such consonants have a double
release burst, one ingressive (the air pulled in by the tongue) and the other egressive (the air pushed out by the glottis). The rear articulation is involved in both: it helps create the suction that powers the first, and then is itself released for the second. Because the back of the tongue operates in the uvular or
pharyngeal part of the mouth to generate the first burst, and the two bursts are very close together in time, the second release is articulated in approximately this same area.
Types
Four series of ejective-contour clicks (as classified by the rear release) are attested. There are two manners of articulation (stop and fricative) and two voicing contrasts, each of which is found for each of the places of articulation (as classified by the front release) that clicks use.
Linguo-glottalic stops
In linguo-glottalic stops, the rear articulation is released into a
ejective stop. Although ejective stops are necessarily voiceless, click–ejective contours may be voiced, as the voicing during the articulation of the first (click) release is stopped for the second (ejective) release. In IPA, using the
alveolar series as an example, the two series are and (also , etc.).
Linguo-glottalic affricates
The rear articulation may also be released as a
fricative
A fricative is a consonant produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate in t ...
. However, because the forward articulation may be considered a stop, these are called ''
affricate
An affricate is a consonant that begins as a stop and releases as a fricative, generally with the same place of articulation (most often coronal). It is often difficult to decide if a stop and fricative form a single phoneme or a consonant pair. ...
s'' rather than fricatives. There are two conventions for writing the frication: the English convention, with an ''x'', and the Afrikaans tradition, with a ''g''. Both are used in the orthographies of Khoisan languages. In Juǀ’hõa, for example, they are written voiceless ''ǃk ǁk ǀk ǂk'' and voiced ''gǃk gǁk gǀk gǂk'', and in the old orthography ''qg’ xg’ cg’ çg’'' and ''dqg’ dxg’ dcg’ dçg’''; in Naro, they are (voiceless) ''qg’ xg’ cg’ tcg’'', and in Khoekhoe (Korana), ''ǃkh’ ǁkh’ ǀkh’ ǂkh’''. In the IPA, the two series of linguo-pulmonic affricates may be written and (also ), though with a cluster analysis they would be and .
Miller (2011) distinguishes between two kinds of affricates:
homorganic
In phonetics, a homorganic consonant (from ''homo-'' "same" and ''organ'' "(speech) organ") is a consonant sound that is articulated in the same place of articulation as another. For example, , and are homorganic consonants of one another since ...
, where the rear articulation has the same uvular place in its release as it held during the front release, and heterorganic, where it is either velar or
epiglottal
A pharyngeal consonant is a consonant that is articulated primarily in the pharynx. Some phoneticians distinguish upper pharyngeal consonants, or "high" pharyngeals, pronounced by retracting the root of the tongue in the mid to upper pharynx, ...
. Although no language contrasts these possibilities from homorganic affricates, she holds that they are different enough in sound that considering them to be different consonants is useful. The transcriptions she uses are or (velar) and or (epiglottal).
[Technically they should have superscript or, in broader transcription, , but a precomposed Unicode glyph is only available for , and in most fonts the other combinations look bad.] (It is not clear if the is written because the rear release is actually an affricate, or because it better distinguishes these from the homorganic/uvular case, as in broad transcription may be used for either a velar or a uvular fricative.) In Gǀui, which has a velar release, the fricative is actually
lateral
Lateral is a geometric term of location which may refer to:
Healthcare
*Lateral (anatomy), an anatomical direction
*Lateral cricoarytenoid muscle
*Lateral release (surgery), a surgical procedure on the side of a kneecap
Phonetics
*Lateral cons ...
, and so may be narrowly transcribed as (or ).
See also
*
Pulmonic-contour click
*
Glottalized click
*
Nasal click
Nasal clicks are click consonants pronounced with nasal airflow. All click types (alveolar , dental , lateral , palatal , retroflex , and labial ) have nasal variants, and these are attested in four or five phonations: voiced, voiceless, asp ...
References
* Amanda Miller, 2011. "The Representation of Clicks". In Oostendorp et al. eds., ''The Blackwell Companion to Phonology.''
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Click consonants