Re: THEORY: clicks

At 8:34 am +0200 9/4/02, Rob Nierse wrote:
>Raymond Brown wrote:
>
>>>Then say [a?a] and coarticulate the click with the [?].
>>Gosh, I can manage ordinary, non-nasal clicks -
>>but to co-articulate avelaric consonant with a glottal stop!
>>Either I've missed something, or else "Help!!"
>
>A friend of mine has done fieldwork with the Hatsa and
>he reported that they have plain, ejective, aspirated,
>nasalised and nasalised+ejective clicks.
Interesting.  I knew of plain, aspirated, nasalized and, indeed, voiced
(but not nasalized) clicks - they have them all in the Nguni langs of
southern Africa.  But ejective & nasalized-ejective clicks?

I'd understood that clicks were produced closure in the velar position
(made by raising tongue against the velum) and modifying the velaric
airstream with the lips or forepart of the tongue; obviously things like
voicing and nasalization involve co-articulation produced with pulmonic
airstream.

But ejectives are produced by closing the glottis and using glottalic
airstream;the airstream can, of course, receive similar modifiying as
pulmonic airstream passing through the mouth.  But how do ejective clicks
work?  (I'm _not_ saying they're not possible - I'm genuinely curious). Is
there simultaneous closure of the glottis and the velar region with a
release of both and modification of the resultant airstream being made with
either the lips or the foreparts of the tongue.  Is the sound John is
meaning?

I guess with nasalized-ejective click, the glottalic airstream passes
through the nose while the velaric airstream gets clicked.  Fascinating -
it gives the lungs a rest, anyway  :)

Ray.





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