Nasal bilabial click
Consonantal sound
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A bilabial nasal click is a click consonant found in some of the languages of southern Africa. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet for a nasal bilabial click with a velar rear articulation is ⟨ŋ͡ʘ⟩ or ⟨ŋ͜ʘ⟩, commonly abbreviated to ⟨ŋʘ⟩, ⟨ᵑʘ⟩ or ⟨ʘ̃⟩. For a click with a uvular rear articulation, the equivalents are ⟨ɴ͡ʘ, ɴ͜ʘ, ɴʘ, ᶰʘ⟩. Sometimes the accompanying letter comes after the click letter, e.g. ⟨ʘŋ⟩ or ⟨ʘᵑ⟩; this may be a simple orthographic choice, or it may imply a difference in the relative timing of the releases.[1]
| Nasal bilabial click | |
|---|---|
| ʘ̃ ɋ̃ |
| Nasal bilabial velar click | |
|---|---|
| ŋʘ ŋɋ | |
| ᵑʘ ᵑɋ |
| Nasal bilabial uvular click | |
|---|---|
| ɴʘ ɴɋ | |
| ᶰʘ ᶰɋ |
Features
Features of a bilabial nasal 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 bilabial, which means it is articulated with both lips.
- Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
- It is a nasal consonant, which means air is exclusively allowed to escape through the nose for nasal stops; otherwise, in addition to through the mouth.