click consonants
Percussive speech sounds
Click consonants are speech sounds made by creating suction in the mouth and releasing it sharply—the sound English speakers write as "tsk-tsk" or use to urge on a horse.
While clicks appear only as interjections in most languages, they function as regular consonants in several African language families, particularly Khoisan and some Bantu languages like Zulu and Xhosa.
- XhosaBantu language with clicks
- ZuluBantu language of Natal
- uvulaSoft palate pendant
- velumMuscular mouth membrane
- allophoneNon-distinctive sound variation
phoneme · suction · air pressure · glottis · language family · affricate · tonal language · plosive · nasal · trill · throat · manner of articulation · burst · tongue · African · snap · dental · percussive
- KhoisanBushmen, Hottentot
- NamibiaNamib, Rehoboth, harbor towns, German settlers, colonial administration
- Nguni PeoplesZulu, Xhosa, Swazi, Zululand, Zulu warrior
- linguisticslinguistics, phoneme, phonemes, morpheme, morphemes
- African LanguagesSwahili, Zulu, Yoruba, Xhosa, Amharic
- Bantu LanguagesSwahili, Zulu, Xhosa, Shona, Kiswahili
click consonantsplosives
Consonants with airflow burst
stops · fricatives · nasals · trills · taps
click consonantsvowels
Letters with unblocked airflow
diphthongs · glides · semivowels · liquids · fricatives