Retroflex click

rdf:langString Retroflex click

rdf:langString no

rdf:langString

rdf:langString Retroflex click

rdf:langString Retroflex nasal click

rdf:langString Voiced retroflex click

rdf:langString The retroflex clicks are a family of click consonants known only from the Central !Kung dialects of Namibia. They are sub-apical retroflex and should not be confused with the more widespread postalveolar clicks, which are sometimes mistakenly called "retroflex" (for example in Unicode) due to their concave tongue shape. There is no official symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents the forward articulation of these sounds, and the expected symbol ⟨𝼊⟩ is rarely seen. In the literature they are typically written with the ad hoc digraph ⟨‼⟩, the convention since Doke identified them as retroflex in 1926. (Doke's proposed symbol, ⟨ψ⟩, did not catch on, nor did Vedder's and Anders' ⟨⦀⟩. For a while Amanda Miller, who noted a lateral fricated release (as had Vedder), transcribed them ⟨ǃǁ⟩.) The Damin ritual jargon of Australia may have had a voiced nasal click, transcribed by Hale & Nash as ⟨rn!⟩, though it's not known if it was phonemically distinct. However, Damin presumably had the articulations of Lardil, in which the "retroflex" consonants are apical alveolar rather than true retroflex, so it is likely that the Damin distinction, if it existed, might be described as post-alveolar [ᵑǃ̠] (⟨rn!⟩) vs a more fronted [ᵑǃ̪] (⟨n!⟩). Basic retroflex clicks are:

rdf:langString k͡𝼊 k͡‼

rdf:langString ŋ͡𝼊 ŋ͡‼

rdf:langString ɡ͡𝼊 ɡ͡‼

rdf:langString ᵏ𝼊 ᵏ‼

rdf:langString ᵑ𝼊 ᵑ‼

rdf:langString ᶢ𝼊 ᶢ‼

rdf:langString 𝼊 ‼

rdf:langString 𝼊̃ ‼̃

rdf:langString 𝼊̬ ‼̬