Re: Click consonants

On Tue, 9 Dec 2003 10:11:26 -0800, Adam Walker <carrajena@...> wrote:

>--- Paul Roser <pkroser@...> wrote:
>> The postdental with bilabial postclosure is an
>> interesting twist, though
>> whatever you make at the glottal point of
>> articulation won't technically be
>> a click - clicks by definition involve two closures:
>> a dorsal closure
>> (velar or uvular) and an anterior closure (labial to
>> palatal).
>>
>> Bfowol
>
>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.
It seems that the two of you are describing two different sounds, though
I'm having trouble identifying what you're describing, Adam. It almost
sounds like you have a palatovelar closure plus dorsovelar or dorsouvular
nasal, which would be something like a palatal click with velar or uvular
nasal accompaniment?

Unless you're actually talking about velic closure (what distinguishes non-
nasal from nasal segments - the sequence /ntn/ has velic closure coinciding
with the /t/) - in which case I don't know what to call it, though I once
read of an onomatopoeic Khoisan sound that imitated a bird call, and was
actually made similar to a click but with the release being made at the
back - something like a velic scrape or fricative IIRC.

Bfowol