The voiced bilabial click is a click consonant found in some of the languages of southern Africa. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet for a voiced bilabial click with a velar rear articulation is ⟨ɡ͡ʘ⟩ or ⟨ɡ͜ʘ⟩, commonly abbreviated to ⟨ɡʘ⟩, ⟨ᶢʘ⟩ or ⟨ʘ̬⟩. For a click with a uvular rear articulation, the equivalents are ⟨ɢ͡ʘ, ɢ͜ʘ, ɢʘ, 𐞒ʘ⟩. Sometimes the accompanying letter comes after the click letter, e.g. ⟨ʘɡ⟩ or ⟨ʘᶢ⟩; this may be a simple orthographic choice, or it may imply a difference in the relative timing of the releases.[1]
| Voiced bilabial velar click | |
|---|---|
| ɡ͡ʘ | |
| ᶢʘ | |
| ʘ̬ |
| Voiced bilabial uvular click | |
|---|---|
| ɢ͡ʘ | |
| 𐞒ʘ |
Features of the voiced bilabial click:
Voiced bilabial clicks only occur in the Tuu and Kx'a families of southern Africa.[2] These sounds are extremely rare and many non-native speakers find it difficult to pronounce. Thus, these sounds are sometimes transliterated as a "g" and a "G" and are pronounced as Velar and Uvular Plosives.