Velaric Airflow: Oral Click

Robert Mannell

Important: If the two members of any of these pairs of phonetic tokens ([

& ʃ], [

& o̥], [

& oː], [

& n͡o], or [

& o͡o]) differ greatly from each other in shape, then click here for instructions on how to set up the phonetic font.

Oral Click

Oral clicks are also known as velaric ingressives.

The following sequence of events produces an oral click:-

Anterior (front) oral closure (in this case on the alveolar ridge in contact with the back of the teeth, for a dental click)
Closure at the soft palate (velum). This velar closure is the reason for the term "velaric airflow".
Air (approximately at atmospheric pressure) is trapped between the tongue and the roof of the mouth
Centre of the tongue is lowered (with a possible simultaneous sliding back of the velar closure). This creates a larger enclosed chamber containing rarefied (low pressure) air.
Anterior closure (at 1) is released and air rushes in from outside to equalise the air pressure. This creates turbulence which results in the noise of the click.

Oral Clicks have stop stricture

[ǀ] dental/alveolar click
Closure as for [t]. When released, air passes over the centre of the tongue.
[ǃ] retroflex click
Closure as for [ʈ]. Closure is first sucked back to the hard palate before release. When released, air passes over the centre of the tongue.
[ǁ] lateral click
Closure as for [t]. When released, air passes over the side(s) of the tongue.

These examples are from Hottentot

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