| Tenuis palatal velar click | |
|---|---|
| kǂ k𝼋 | |
| ᵏǂ ᵏ𝼋 | |
| ǂ 𝼋 | |
| IPA number | 179 |
| Encoding | |
| Entity(decimal) | ǂ |
| Unicode(hex) | U+01C2 |
| Braille | |
| Tenuis palatal uvular click | |
|---|---|
| qǂ q𝼋 | |
| 𐞥ǂ 𐞥𝼋 |
Avoiceless or more preciselytenuis palatal click is aclick consonant found primarily among the languages of southern Africa. The symbol in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet for a tenuis palatal click with avelar rear articulation is ⟨k͡ǂ⟩ or ⟨k͜ǂ⟩, commonly abbreviated to ⟨kǂ⟩, ⟨ᵏǂ⟩ or simply ⟨ǂ⟩. Linguists who prefer theold IPA letters use the analogousBeach convention[1] of ⟨k͡𝼋⟩ or ⟨k͜𝼋⟩, abbreviated ⟨k𝼋⟩, ⟨ᵏ𝼋⟩ or just ⟨𝼋⟩. For a click with auvular rear articulation, the equivalents are ⟨q͡ǂ,q͜ǂ,qǂ,𐞥ǂ⟩ and ⟨q͡𝼋,q͜𝼋,q𝼋,𐞥𝼋⟩.Sometimes the accompanying letter comes after the click letter, e.g. ⟨ǂk⟩ or ⟨ǂᵏ⟩; this may be a simple orthographic choice, or may imply a difference in the relative timing of the releases.[2]
Features of a tenuis palatal click:
Tenuis palatal clicks are only found in the variousKhoisan language families of southern Africa and in the neighboringYeyi language.
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| ǂHaba | ǂHaba | [k͜ǂʰabá] =[ᵏ𝼋ʰabá] | 'ǂHaba' |
| Khoekhoe | ǂgā-amǃnâ | [k͜ǂààʔám̀ŋ͜ǃã̀ã̀] =[ᵏ𝼋ààʔám̀ᵑʗã̀ã̀] | 'to put in the mouth' |
| Naro | Qhomatcã (Qhomaçã) | [k͜ǃʰomak͜ǂã] =[ᵏʗʰomaᵏ𝼋ã] | 'Qhomatca' |
| Yeyi | shiǂa | [ʃik͜ǂa] =[ʃiᵏ𝼋a] | 'scarification' |