The voiced (post)alveolar click is a click consonant found primarily among the languages of southern Africa. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet for a voiced alveolar click with a velar rear articulation is ⟨ɡ͡ǃ⟩ or ⟨ɡ͜ǃ⟩, commonly abbreviated to ⟨ɡǃ⟩, ⟨ᶢǃ⟩ or ⟨ǃ̬⟩; a symbol abandoned by the IPA but still preferred by some linguists is ⟨ɡ͡ʗ⟩ or ⟨ɡ͜ʗ⟩, abbreviated ⟨ɡʗ⟩, ⟨ᶢʗ⟩ or ⟨ʗ̬⟩. For a click with a uvular rear articulation, the equivalents are ⟨ɢ͡ǃ, ɢ͜ǃ, ɢǃ, 𐞒ǃ⟩ and ⟨ɢ͡ʗ, ɢ͜ʗ, ɢʗ, 𐞒ʗ⟩. Sometimes the accompanying letter comes after the click letter, e.g. ⟨ǃɡ⟩ or ⟨ǃᶢ⟩; this may be a simple orthographic choice, or it may imply a difference in the relative timing of the releases.[2]
| Voiced alveolar velar click | |
|---|---|
| ɡ͡ǃ ɡ͡ʗ | |
| ᶢǃ ᶢʗ | |
| ǃ̬ ʗ̬ |
| Voiced alveolar uvular click | |
|---|---|
| ɢ͡ǃ ɢ͡ʗ | |
| 𐞒ǃ 𐞒ʗ |
In languages which use the Bantu letters for clicks, this is most commonly written ⟨gq⟩, but it is written ⟨dq⟩ in those languages that use ⟨g⟩ for the uvular fricative.
Features of the voiced (post)alveolar click:
Voiced alveolar clicks are found primarily in the various Khoisan language families of southern Africa and in some neighboring Bantu languages.[3]
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Naro | dqòma tcg'òó | [ɡ͜ǃòmā k͜ǂqχʼǒː] = [ᶢʗòmā ᵏ𝼋χʼǒː] | (place name) |
| Sandawe | gqakina | [ɡ͜ǃàkʰíná] = [ᶢʗàkʰíná] | 'to carry hidden' |
| Yeyi | kagǃawa | [kaɡ͜ǃawa] = [kaᶢʗawa] | 'calabash' |