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African clicking language

 

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Old August 03, 2011, 07:55 PM
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African clicking language

Hola!

I've heard quite a few times of an African language that uses clicking noises, but I was wondering if it actually has a name. Does anyone know the official name of this language? Are there more than one? It is like a family of languages, like the Romance Languages?

gracias, amigos
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Old August 03, 2011, 09:09 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by coffeecup View Post
Hola!

I've heard quite a few times of an African language that uses clicking noises, but I was wondering if it actually has a name. Does anyone know the official name of this language? Are there more than one? It is like a family of languages, like the Romance Languages?

gracias, amigos
There are several African languages that use "clicks", in at least 2 language families. The only language whose name I know and whose name also includes a click consonant is called "Xhosa". In this word the letter "X" spells a click sound that I can best describe as a lateral tongue click; it's the same sound that many people here in the US use as a friendly signal to horses.

Another possible click is a whole-tongue pop, which typically sounds like the sound associated with the spelling "tsk" as a way of signalling "shame on you".

A third possible click is the "kiss" sound.
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Old May 04, 2012, 12:39 PM
lauraashley lauraashley is offline
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Here are examples of clicks from the language Nama (from Africa.)
http://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/vowels...er13/nama.html

Contrary to popular belief it is actually not the same sound that people use when calling horses.

Here is an xray of a click production
http://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/vowels...r13/movie.html
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