Lateral alveolar click

The lateral alveolar click is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ǁ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is |\|\.

An example of this sound is the clucking sound used by equestrians to urge their horses on.

Features

Features of the lateral alveolar click:

• Its manner of articulation is click, which means it is produced with two articulatory closures in the oral cavity. The pocket of air enclosed between the two closures is rarefied by a "sucking" action of the tongue. The release of the more forward closure produces the 'click' sound.
• Its place of articulation is alveolar which means it is articulated with the tip of the tongue against the alveolar ridge.
• It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth.
• It is a lateral consonant, which means it is produced by allowing the airstream to flow over the sides of the tongue, rather than the middle of the tongue.
• The airstream mechanism is velaric egressive, which means it is produced by movement of mouth air by action of the tongue, rather than air from the glottis or the lungs.

See also

• List of phonetics topics