Tenuis alveolar click
# Tenuis alveolar click

The voiceless or more precisely tenuis (post)alveolar click is a click consonant found primarily among the languages of southern Africa. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet for a tenuis alveolar click with a velar rear articulation is ⟨k͡ǃ⟩ or ⟨k͜ǃ⟩, commonly abbreviated to ⟨kǃ⟩, ⟨ᵏǃ⟩ or simply ⟨ǃ⟩; a symbol abandoned by the IPA but still preferred by some linguists is ⟨k͡ʗ⟩ or ⟨k͜ʗ⟩, abbreviated ⟨kʗ⟩, ⟨ᵏʗ⟩ or just ⟨ʗ⟩. For a click with a uvular rear articulation, the equivalents are ⟨q͡ǃ, q͜ǃ, qǃ, 𐞥ǃ⟩ and ⟨q͡ʗ, q͜ʗ, qʗ, 𐞥ʗ⟩. Sometimes the accompanying letter comes after the click letter, e.g. ⟨ǃk⟩ or ⟨ǃᵏ⟩; this may be a simple orthographic choice, or it may imply a difference in the relative timing of the releases.

## Features

Features of the tenuis (post)alveolar click:

* The airstream mechanism is lingual ingressive (also known as velaric ingressive), which means a pocket of air trapped between two closures is rarefied by a "sucking" action of the tongue, rather than being moved by the glottis or the lungs/diaphragm. The release of the forward closure produces the "click" sound. Voiced and nasal clicks have a simultaneous pulmonic egressive airstream.
* Its place of articulation is alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal.
* Its phonation is voiceless, unaspirated, and unglottalized, which means it is produced without vibration or constriction of the vocal cords, and any following vowel starts without significant delay.
* It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
* It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.

## Occurrence

Tenuis alveolar clicks are found primarily in the various Khoisan language families of southern Africa and in some neighboring Bantu languages.

| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning |
| - | - | - | - |
| Hadza | laqo | [lak͜ǃo] = [laᵏʗo] | 'to trip' |
| Khoekhoe | ǃgabe | [k͜ǃȁwé] = [ᵏʗȁwé] | 'to speak a Khoisan language' |
| Sesotho | ho qoqa | [hʊk͜ǃɔk͜ǃɑ] = [hʊᵏʗɔᵏʗɑ] | 'to chat' |
| Xhosa | iqanda | [ik͜ǃanda] = [iᵏʗanda] | 'egg' |
| Zulu | iqaqa | [íːk͜ǃaːk͜ǃá] = [íːᵏʗaːᵏʗá] | 'polecat' |
