Re: Click consonants

Staving Adam Walker:

>If he's making the same sound I was told wasn't a
>click when I called it a glottal click, there *are*
>two closures -- the dorsal closes off the nasal cavity
>and the anterior is at the forward edge of the velum
>where it joins the hard palate.  I guess if it really
>isn't a click it must be some kind of suction stop or
>some such.  It is (or can be) quite loud.
When trying it out, I find that it has a rather echo-y g-like quality.
Perhaps its the swallowing noise that, according to JRRT, gave Gollum his name.

In Magzhelyagon's gramaticalised phonology, this suction stop (the only
one) performs the same sort of role as a click, so native speakers would
think of it as one, even if a more informed linguist made a distinction.

Pete