Tenuis alveolar click
A voiceless or more precisely tenuis alveolar click is a click consonant found primarily among the languages of southern Africa.
The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet for a tenuis alveolar click with a velar rear articulation is or, commonly abbreviated to, or simply ; a symbol abandoned by the IPA but still preferred by some linguists is or, abbreviated, or just. 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 it may imply a difference in the relative timing of the releases.
Features
Features of a tenuis alveolar click:Occurrence
Tenuis alveolar clicks are found primarily in the various Khoisan language families of southern Africa and in some neighboring Bantu languages.| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning |
| Hadza | laqo | 'to trip' | |
| Khoekhoe | ǃgabe | 'to speak a Khoisan language' | |
| Sesotho | ho qo'qa | 'to chat' | |
| Xhosa | iq'anda | 'egg' | |
| Zulu | iqa'q'a | 'polecat' |