Click sounds involve an interesting and dramatic use of the vocal
organs. The air stream is firmly closed and suction is created in the mouth
with a final and sudden implosion of air. (English speakers make a click
sound -actually, an alveolar click - when they caution someone with at
"tsk" "tsk"). This mode of controlling the airflow may be used to produce
several different phones according to the points of articulation used.
For instance in many southern African languages up to five different clicks
may be produced as follows.
| / | dental click |
| = | palatal click |
| ! | alveolar click |
| // | lateral click |
| @ | bilabial click |
You may read and listen to the following tale in Nama, a Khoisan Language of Namibia and Botswana to get an idea of how this striking phonological feature sounds. (The page will open in a separate browser. Refer back here to identifity the clicks represented in the transcription).