Unicode character name for ǃ isLATIN LETTER RETROFLEX CLICK
Tenuis alveolar velar click
kǃkʗ
ᵏǃᵏʗ
Tenuis alveolar uvular click
qǃqʗ
𐞥ǃ𐞥ʗ
Avoiceless or more preciselytenuis (post)alveolar click is aclick consonant found primarily among the languages of southern Africa. The symbol in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet for a tenuis alveolar click with avelar rear articulation is ⟨k͡ǃ⟩ or ⟨k͜ǃ⟩, commonly abbreviated to ⟨kǃ⟩, ⟨ᵏǃ⟩ or simply ⟨ǃ⟩; a symbol abandoned by the IPA but still preferred by some linguists is ⟨k͡ʗ⟩ or ⟨k͜ʗ⟩, abbreviated ⟨kʗ⟩, ⟨ᵏʗ⟩ or just ⟨ʗ⟩. For a click with auvular rear articulation, the equivalents are ⟨q͡ǃ,q͜ǃ,qǃ,𐞥ǃ⟩ and ⟨q͡ʗ,q͜ʗ,qʗ,𐞥ʗ⟩.Sometimes the accompanying letter comes after the click letter, e.g. ⟨ǃk⟩ or ⟨ǃᵏ⟩; this may be a simple orthographic choice, or it may imply a difference in the relative timing of the releases.[1]
Theairstream mechanism islingual ingressive (also known as velaric ingressive), which means a pocket of air trapped between two closures is rarefied by a "sucking" action of the tongue, rather than being moved by theglottis or thelungs/diaphragm. The release of the forward closure produces the "click" sound. Voiced and nasal clicks have a simultaneouspulmonic egressive airstream.
Itsphonation is voiceless, unaspirated, and unglottalized, which means it is produced without vibration or constriction of the vocal cords, and any following vowel startswithout significant delay.
It is anoral consonant, which means that air is not allowed to escape through the nose.
It is amedian consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream down the midline of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
