View source for Bilabial click

{{short description|Consonantal sound}}
{{Infobox IPA
| above = {{nowrap|Tenuis labial click}}<br /><small>(velar)</small>
| ipa symbol = kʘ &nbsp; kɋ
| ipa symbol2 = ᵏʘ &nbsp; ᵏɋ
| ipa symbol3 = ʘ &nbsp; ɋ
| ipa number = 176
| decimal = 664
| imagefile = IPA Unicode 0x0298.svg
| imagesize = 150px
| x-sampa = O\
| braille = and
| braille2 = p
}}
{{Infobox IPA
| above = Voiced labial click<br /><small>(velar)</small>
| ipa symbol = ɡʘ &nbsp; ɡɋ
| ipa symbol2 = ᶢʘ &nbsp; ᶢɋ
| ipa symbol3 = ᵇʘ
| x-sampa = O\_t
}}
{{Infobox IPA
|above=Nasal labial click<br /><small>(velar)</small>
|ipa symbol = ŋʘ &nbsp; ŋɋ
|ipa symbol2 = ᵑʘ &nbsp; ᵑɋ
|ipa symbol3 = ᵐʘ
|x-sampa=O\_~
}}
{{Infobox IPA
|above={{nowrap|Tenuis labial click}}<br /><small>(uvular)</small>
|ipa symbol = qʘ &nbsp; qɋ
|ipa symbol2 = 𐞥ʘ &nbsp; 𐞥ɋ
}}
{{Infobox IPA
|above=Voiced labial click<br /><small>(uvular)</small>
|ipa symbol = ɢʘ &nbsp; ɢɋ
|ipa symbol2 = 𐞒ʘ &nbsp; 𐞒ɋ
}}
{{Infobox IPA
|above=Nasal labial click<br /><small>(uvular)</small>
|ipa symbol = ɴʘ &nbsp; ɴɋ
|ipa symbol2 = ᶰʘ &nbsp; ᶰɋ
}}

The '''bilabial clicks''' are a family of [[click consonant]]s that sound like a smack of the lips. They are found as [[phoneme]]s only in the small [[Tuu languages|Tuu language family]] (currently two languages, one down to its last speaker), in the [[ǂ’Amkoe language]] of [[Botswana]] (also moribund), and in the extinct [[Damin]] ritual jargon of [[Australia]]. However, bilabial clicks are found paralinguistically for a kiss in various languages, including integrated into a greeting in the [[Hadza language]] of [[Tanzania]], and as allophones of [[labial–velar consonant|labial–velar stops]] in some West African languages (Ladefoged 1968), as of /mw/ in some of the languages neighboring Shona, such as [[Ndau language|Ndau]] and [[Tonga language (Zambia)|Tonga]].

The symbol in the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] that represents the [[place of articulation]] of these sounds is {{angbr IPA|ʘ}}. This may be combined with a second letter to indicate the [[manner of articulation]], though this is commonly omitted for [[tenuis consonant|tenuis]] clicks. An uncommon para-IPA letter for bilabial clicks is a turned ''b'' with hook, {{angbr IPA|ɋ&thinsp;}}.<ref>E.g. in Larry Mattes & Donald Omark (1984) Speech and language assessment for the bilingual handicapped. College-Hill Press, San Diego, p. 132.</ref>
[[File:Bilabial click.ogg|thumb|[[Tenuis bilabial click]] in the [[Air stream|airstream]] on the [[Ejective consonant|ejective]] [[Click consonant|click]] of the [[Lip|lips]].]]

== Bilabial click consonants and their transcription ==
In official IPA transcription, the click letter is combined with a {{angbr IPA|k ɡ ŋ q ɢ ɴ}} via a tie bar, though {{angbr IPA|k}} is frequently omitted. Many authors instead use a superscript {{angbr IPA|k ɡ ŋ q ɢ ɴ}} without the tie bar, again often neglecting the {{angbr IPA|k}}. Either letter, whether baseline or superscript, is usually placed before the click letter, but may come after when the release of the velar or uvular occlusion is audible. A third convention is the click letter with diacritics for voicelessness, voicing and nasalization; this does not distinguish velar from uvular labial clicks. Common labial clicks in these three transcriptions are:

{| class="wikitable"
! Trans. I !! Trans. II !! Trans. III !! Description 
|-
! colspan=4| (velar)
|-
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|k͜ʘ}} 
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ᵏʘ}} 
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ʘ}} 
| ''[[tenuis bilabial click]]''
|-
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|k͜ʘʰ}} 
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ᵏʘʰ}} 
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ʘʰ}} 
| ''[[aspirated consonant|aspirated]] bilabial click''
|-
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ɡ͜ʘ}} 
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ᶢʘ}} 
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ʘ̬}} 
| ''[[voiced bilabial click]]''
|-
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ŋ͜ʘ}} 
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ᵑʘ}} 
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ʘ̬̃}} 
| ''[[bilabial nasal click]]''
|-
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ŋ͜ʘ̥ʰʰ}} 
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ᵑʘ̥ʰʰ}} 
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ʘ̥̃ʰʰ}} 
| ''aspirated bilabial nasal click''
|-
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ŋ͜ʘˀ}} 
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ᵑʘˀ}}
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ʘ̃ˀ}} 
| ''[[glottalized bilabial nasal click]]''
|-
! colspan=4| (uvular)
|-
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|q͜ʘ}} 
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|&#x107a5;ʘ}} 
|  
| ''tenuis bilabial click''
|-
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|q͜ʘʰ}} 
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|&#x107a5;ʘʰ}} 
| 
| ''aspirated bilabial click''
|-
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ɢ͜ʘ}} 
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|&#x10792;ʘ}} 
| 
| ''voiced bilabial click''
|-
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ɴ͜ʘ}} 
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ᶰʘ}} 
| 
| ''bilabial nasal click''
|-
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ɴ͜ʘ̥ʰʰ}} 
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ᶰʘ̥ʰʰ}} 
| 
| ''aspirated bilabial nasal click''
|-
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ɴ͜ʘˀ}} 
| style="font-size:24px" align="center"|{{angbr IPA|ᶰʘˀ}}
| 
| ''glottalized bilabial nasal click''
|}

The last is what is heard in the sound sample at right, as non-native speakers tend to glottalize clicks to avoid nasalizing them.
 
Damin also had an egressive bilabial {{IPA|[ʘ↑]}}, which may be an egressive click (if it is not [[buccal airstream|buccal]]) and which is always followed by another consonant ({{IPA|[ɲ]}}, {{IPA|[ŋ]}} or {{IPA|[pj]}}).<ref>Hale, Ken and Nash, David. ''Damin and Lardil Phonotactics.'' Australian National University Open Research Repository. https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/253893/1/PL-C136.247.pdf</ref>

==Features==

Features of ingressive labial clicks:

{{click manner}}
*The forward [[place of articulation]] is [[labial consonant|labial]], which means it is articulated with the lips. The release is a noisy, [[Affricate consonant|affricate]]-like sound. Bilabial articulation, using both lips, is typical. Sometimes this may pass through a [[Labiodental consonant|labio-dental]] stage as the click is released, making it noisier.<ref>Ladefoged & Maddieson 1996:251)</ref> In other cases, the lower lip may start out in contact with both the upper teeth and the upper lip.<ref>Miller, 2007, ''The Sounds of Nǀuu'', pp 121''ff''</ref>
{{oral-nasal}}
{{central-lateral}}
{{lingual airstream}} (One of the two labial clicks in Damin is lingual ''egressive,'' which means that the trapped air pocket is compressed by the tongue until it is allowed to spurt out through the lips.)

The labial clicks are sometimes erroneously described as sounding like a kiss. However, they do not have the pursed lips of a kiss. Instead, the lips are [[Roundedness#Types of rounding|compressed]], more like a {{IPA|[p]}} than a {{IPA|[w]}}, and they sound more like a noisy smack of the lips than a kiss.

==Symbol==
The '''bullseye''' or '''bull's eye''' ('''{{IPA|ʘ}}''')  symbol used in [[phonetic transcription]] of the phoneme was made an official part of the International Phonetic Alphabet in 1979, but had existed for at least 50 years earlier. It is encoded in [[Unicode]] as {{unichar|0298|LATIN LETTER BILABIAL CLICK}}.
The [[International Phonetic Alphabet#Superscript IPA|superscript IPA]] version is {{unichar|107B5|MODIFIER LETTER BILABIAL CLICK}}.<ref>{{Cite web|title=L2/20-252R: Unicode request for IPA modifier-letters (a), pulmonic|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20252r-mod-ipa-a.pdf|date=2020-11-08|first1=Kirk|last1=Miller|first2=Michael|last2=Ashby}}</ref>

Similar graphemes consisting of a circled dot encoded by Unicode are:
*Gothic 𐍈, [[hwair]]
*[[astronomical symbol]] [[Solar symbol|☉]] "Sun"
*[[Mathematical operators and symbols in Unicode|mathematical operators]] {{unichar|2299|circled dot operator|nlink=}} and {{unichar|2A00|N-ary circled dot operator}}
*geometrical symbol {{unichar|25c9|fisheye}}
*Cyrillic Ꙩ, ꙩ ([[monocular O]])

The para-IPA letter {{angbr IPA|ɋ}} is covered by {{unichar|024B|LATIN SMALL LETTER Q WITH HOOK TAIL|html=}}.

==Occurrence==
[[English language|English]] does not have a labial click (or any click consonant, for that matter) as a phoneme, but a plain bilabial click does occur in [[mimesis]], as a lip-smacking sound children use to imitate a fish.

Labial clicks only occur in the [[Tuu languages|Tuu]] and [[Kx'a languages|Kx'a]] families of southern Africa, and in the Australian ritual language [[Damin]].

{| class="wikitable"
! Language !! Word !! [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]] !! Meaning 
|-
| [[ǂʼAmkoe language|ǂʼAmkoe]] (ǂHoan) || colspan="2" |{{IPA|ʘoa}} || 'two'
|-
| [[Damin]] || {{lang|mis|mǃi}} || {{IPA|[ᵑʘi]}} {{=}} {{IPA|[ʘ̃i]}} || 'vegetable'
|-
| [[Taa language|Taa]] (ǃXóõ) || colspan="2" |{{IPA|ʘàa}} || 'child'
|-
|[[Nǁng language|Nǁng]] (Nǀuu)
| colspan="2" |ʘũu
|'son'
|}

==Origins==
Labial clicks may have arisen historically from [[labialization]] of other places of articulation. Starostin (2003)<ref>George Starostin (2003) [http://starling.rinet.ru/Texts/khoilex.pdf A lexicostatistical approach towards reconstructing Proto-Khoisan], page 22. ''Mother Tongue'', vol. VIII.</ref> notes that the ǂ’Amkoe words for 'one' and 'two', {{IPA|/ʘ̃ũ/}} and {{IPA|/ʘoa/}}, have labial clicks whereas no other Khoisan language has a labial consonant of any kind in its words for these numerals, and Starostin (2007)<ref>George Starostin (2007) 'Лабиальные кликсы в койсанских языках' ('On labial clicks')</ref> and Sands reconstruct a series of labialized clicks in [[Kx'a languages|Proto-Kxʼa]], which became labial clicks in ǂ’Amkoe. In Hadza, the word for 'kiss', {{IPA|/ǀ̃ua/}}, becomes a mimetic {{IPA|/ǀ̃ʷa/}} or {{IPA|/ʘ̃ʷa/}} in greetings.<ref>Anywire, Bala, Miller & Sands (2013) ''A Hadza Lexicon'', ms.</ref>

==See also==
*[[Alveolar click]]
*[[Dental click]]
*[[Lateral click]]
*[[Palatal click]]
*[[Retroflex click]]
*[[List of phonetics topics]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*{{cite book |last=Pullum |first=Geoffrey K. |authorlink=Geoffrey K. Pullum |author2=Ladusaw, William A. |date=1996 |title=[[Phonetic Symbol Guide]] |publisher=University of Chicago Press |pages=132–133}}
*{{cite book |last=Ladefoged |first=Peter |authorlink=Peter Ladefoged |author2=Maddieson, Ian |date=1996 |title=The Sounds of the World's Languages |publisher=Blackwell Publishers |pages=246–280}}

==External links==
{{wiktionary|ʘ}}
* {{phoible|ʘ}}

{{IPA navigation}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Biabial Clicks}}
[[Category:Bilabial consonants]]
[[Category:Phonetic transcription symbols]]
[[Category:Click consonants]]