Nasal palatal click
A 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 or, commonly abbreviated to, or. Linguists who prefer the old IPA letters use the analogous Beach convention of or, abbreviated, or. For a click with a uvular rear articulation, the equivalents are and.
Sometimes the accompanying letter comes after the click letter, e.g. or ; this may be a simple orthographic choice, or may imply a difference in the relative timing of the releases.
Features
Features of a palatal nasal click:Occurrence
Palatal nasal clicks are only found in the various Khoisan languages families of southern Africa and in the neighboring Yeyi language.| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning |
| Khoekhoe | ǂnauǃhuiǂgui | to give s.o. a bloody nose | |
| Naro | ntcùú qhuri c’õa ' | the Milky Way | |
| Taa | ǂn'ûm'' | two | |
| Gǀui | to stare |
Glottalized palatal nasal click
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 | to inadvertently bite a hard object | |
| Naro | tc’úú-tc’ùù | to paint | |
| Gǀui | to hide | ||
| Yeyi | sunrise |