The palatal nasal click is a click consonant found primarily among the languages of southern Africa. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet for a nasal palatal click with a velar rear articulation is ⟨ŋ͡ǂ⟩ or ⟨ŋ͜ǂ⟩, commonly abbreviated to ⟨ŋǂ⟩, ⟨ᵑǂ⟩ or ⟨ǂ̃⟩. Linguists who prefer the old IPA letters use the analogous Beach convention[1] of ⟨ŋ͡𝼋⟩ or ⟨ŋ͜𝼋⟩, abbreviated ⟨ŋ𝼋⟩, ⟨ᵑ𝼋⟩ or ⟨𝼋̃⟩. For a click with a uvular rear articulation, the equivalents are ⟨ɴ͡ǂ, ɴ͜ǂ, ɴǂ, ᶰǂ⟩ and ⟨ɴ͡𝼋, ɴ͜𝼋, ɴ𝼋, ᶰ𝼋⟩. Sometimes the accompanying letter comes after the click letter, e.g. ⟨ǂŋ⟩ or ⟨ǂᵑ⟩; this may be a simple orthographic choice, or may imply a difference in the relative timing of the releases.[2]
| Nasal palatal velar click | |
|---|---|
| ŋ͡ǂ ŋ͡𝼋 | |
| ᵑǂ ᵑ𝼋 | |
| ǂ̃ 𝼋̃ |
| Nasal palatal uvular click | |
|---|---|
| ɴ͡ǂ ɴ͡𝼋 | |
| ᶰǂ ᶰ𝼋 |
Features of the palatal nasal click:
Palatal nasal clicks are only found in the various Khoisan languages families of southern Africa and in the neighboring Yeyi language.[3]
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Khoekhoe | ǂnauǃhuiǂgui | [ᵑǂə̀űᵑ̊ǃʰȕíᵏǂȕí] = [ᵑ𝼋ə̀űᵑ̊ǃʰȕíᵏ𝼋ȕí] | to give s.o. a bloody nose |
| Naro | ntcùú qhuri c’õa (nçùú qhuri c’õa) |
[ᵑǂǔːǃʰūɾīŋǀˀõ̯ã] = [ᵑ𝼋ǔːʗʰūɾīŋʇˀõ̯ã] | the Milky Way |
| Taa | ǂnûm | [ᵑǂûm] = [ᵑ𝼋ûm] | two |
| Gǀui | [ᵑǂâː] = [ᵑ𝼋âː] | to stare |
| Glottalized palatal nasal click | |
|---|---|
| ǂ̃ˀ | |
| ᵑǂ͡ʔ | |
| ᵑ̊ǂˀ | |
| ᵑǂˀ |
All Khoisan languages, and a few Bantu languages, have glottalized nasal clicks. These are formed by closing the glottis so that the click is pronounced in silence; however, any preceding vowel will be nasalized.
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Khoekhoe | ǂamǁgû | [ᵑǂ͡ʔàm̀ᵏǁṹṹ] = [ᵑ𝼋ˀàm̀ᵏʖṹṹ] | to inadvertently bite a hard object |
| Naro | tc’úú-tc’ùù (ç’úú-ç’ùù) |
[ᵑǂˀúːŋǂˀùː] | to paint |
| Gǀui | [ᵑǂ͡ʔáː] = [ᵑ𝼋ˀáː] | to hide (oneself) | |
| Yeyi | [makʰweᵑǂˀumu] | sunrise |