| Above: | (velar) |
| Ipa Symbol: | k͜ǁ |
| Ipa Symbol2: | ᵏǁ |
| Ipa Symbol3: | ǁ |
| Ipa Symbol4: | k͜ʖ ᵏʖ |
| Ipa Number: | 180 |
| Decimal1: | 449 |
| Decimal2: | 662 |
| Imagefile: | IPA Unicode 0x01C1.svg |
| Xsampa: | |\|\ |
| Braille: | and |
| Braille2: | l |
| Above: | Voiced lateral click (velar) |
| Ipa Symbol: | ɡ͡ǁ |
| Ipa Symbol2: | ᶢǁ |
| Ipa Symbol3: | ɡ͡ʖ ᶢʖ |
| Above: | Nasal lateral click (velar) |
| Ipa Symbol: | ŋ͡ǁ |
| Ipa Symbol2: | ᵑǁ |
| Ipa Symbol3: | ŋ͡ʖ ᵑʖ |
| Above: | (uvular) |
| Ipa Symbol: | q͡ǁ |
| Ipa Symbol2: | ǁ |
| Ipa Symbol3: | q͡ʖ ʖ |
| Above: | Voiced lateral click (uvular) |
| Ipa Symbol: | ɢ͡ǁ |
| Ipa Symbol2: | ǁ |
| Ipa Symbol3: | ɢ͡ʖ ʖ |
| Above: | Nasal lateral click (uvular) |
| Ipa Symbol: | ɴ͡ǁ |
| Ipa Symbol2: | ᶰǁ |
| Ipa Symbol3: | ɴ͡ʖ ᶰʖ |
The lateral clicks are a family of click consonants found only in African languages. The clicking sound used by equestrians to urge on their horses is a lateral click, although it is not a speech sound in that context. Lateral clicks are found throughout southern Africa, for example in Zulu, and in some languages in Tanzania and Namibia. The place of articulation is not known to be contrastive in any language, and typically varies from alveolar to palatal.
The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents a generic lateral click is (IPA|ǁ), a double vertical bar. Prior to 1989, (IPA|ʖ)[1] was the IPA letter for the lateral clicks, and this is still preferred by some phoneticians, as the vertical bar may be confounded with prosody marks and, in some fonts, with a double lowercase L. Either letter may be combined with a second letter to indicate the manner of articulation, though this is commonly omitted for tenuis clicks with a velar rear articulation.
In official IPA transcription, the click letter is combined with a (IPA|k ɡ ŋ q ɢ ɴ) via a tie bar, though (IPA|k) is frequently omitted. Many authors instead use a superscript (IPA|k ɡ ŋ q ɢ ɴ) without the tie bar, again often neglecting the (IPA|k). Either letter, whether baseline or superscript, is usually placed before the click letter, but may come after when the release of the velar or uvular occlusion is audible. A third convention is the click letter with diacritics for voicelessness, voicing and nasalization; it does not distinguish velar from uvular lateral clicks. Common lateral clicks are:
| Trans. I | Trans. II | Trans. III | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (velar) | ||||
| (IPA|k͜ǁ) | (IPA|ᵏǁ) | (IPA|ǁ) | tenuis lateral click | |
| (IPA|k͜ǁʰ) | (IPA|ᵏǁʰ) | (IPA|ǁʰ) | aspirated lateral click | |
| (IPA|ɡ͜ǁ) | (IPA|ᶢǁ) | (IPA|ǁ̬) | voiced lateral click | |
| (IPA|ŋ͜ǁ) | (IPA|ᵑǁ) | (IPA|ǁ̬̃) | lateral nasal click | |
| (IPA|ŋ͜ǁ̥ʰʰ) | (IPA|ᵑǁ̥ʰʰ) | (IPA|ǁ̥̃ʰʰ) | aspirated lateral nasal click | |
| (IPA|ŋ͜ǁˀ) | (IPA|ᵑǁˀ) | (IPA|ǁ̃ˀ) | glottalized lateral nasal click | |
| (uvular) | ||||
| (IPA|q͜ǁ) | (IPA|𐞥ǁ) | tenuis lateral click | ||
| (IPA|q͜ǁʰ) | (IPA|𐞥ǁʰ) | aspirated lateral click | ||
| (IPA|ɢ͜ǁ) | (IPA|𐞒ǁ) | voiced lateral click | ||
| (IPA|ɴ͜ǁ) | (IPA|ᶰǁ) | lateral nasal click | ||
| (IPA|ɴ͜ǁ̥ʰʰ) | (IPA|ᶰǁ̥ʰʰ) | aspirated lateral nasal click | ||
| (IPA|ɴ͜ǁˀ) | (IPA|ᶰǁˀ) | glottalized lateral nasal click | ||
In the orthographies of individual languages, the letters and digraphs for lateral clicks may be based on either the vertical bar symbol of the IPA, (IPA|ǁ), or on the Latin (x) of Bantu convention. Nama and most Saan languages use the former; Naro, Sandawe, and Zulu use the latter.
The specific articulation of lateral clicks may vary from language to language, from dental to palatal, apical or laminal, though no contrast between such articulations has been confirmed apart from the retroflex clicks, which may have lateral release.
Features of lateral clicks:
Regarding Khoekhoe, Tindall notes that European learners almost invariably pronounce these sounds as simple laterals, by placing the tongue against the side teeth, and that this articulation is "harsh and foreign to the native ear". The Namaqua instead cover the whole of the palate with the tongue, and produce the sound "as far back in the palate as possible".[2]
English does not have a lateral click (or any click consonant, for that matter) as a phoneme, but an unreleased[3] lateral click does occur as an interjection, usually written tchick! or tchek! (and often reduplicated tchick-tchick!), used to urge a horse to move. A form of click can also be heard by some English speakers when scoffing, but this is generally a dental click rather than a lateral click.
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nǁan | pronounced as /[ᵑǁàŋ] [ʖ̃àŋ]/ | 'marama bean' | ||||
| Hadza | e'''x'''ekeke | pronounced as /[ʔeᵏǁekeke] [ʔeʖ̥ekeke]/ | 'to listen' | |||
| na'''xh'''i | pronounced as /[naᵏǁʰi] [naʖ̥ʰi]/ | 'to crowd' | ||||
| ko'''nx'''a | pronounced as /[koᵑǁa] [koʖ̃a]/ | 'to be a pair' | ||||
| sla'''xx'''a | pronounced as /[ɬaᵑǁˀa] [ɬaʖ̃ˀa]/ | 'a split, fork' | ||||
| Xhosa: isi'''Xh'''osa | pronounced as /[isiᵏǁʰosa] [isiʖ̥ʰosa]/ | 'Xhosa language' | Contrasts tenuis, murmured, aspirated, and nasal lateral clicks. | |||
| '''ǁn'''áã | pronounced as /[ᵑǁɑ́ɑ̃] [ʖ̃ɑ́ɑ̃]/ | 'grewia berry' | ||||
| Zulu: '''x'''o'''x'''a | pronounced as /[ᵏǁɔ́ːᵏǁa] [ʖ̥ɔ́ːʖ̥a]/ | 'to converse' | ||||
pronounced as /navigation/