Editing Click consonant (section)

==Places of articulation==
{{main|bilabial click|dental click|palatal click|alveolar click|lateral click|retroflex click|velar click}}

[[Place of articulation|Places of articulation]] are often called click ''types, releases,'' or ''influxes,'' though 'release' is also used for the accompaniment/efflux. There are seven or eight known places of articulation, not counting slapped or egressive clicks. These are ''(bi)labial affricated'' {{IPA|ʘ}}, or "bilabial"; ''laminal denti-alveolar affricated'' {{IPA|ǀ}}, or "dental"; ''apical (post)alveolar plosive'' {{IPA|ǃ}}, or "alveolar"; ''laminal palatal plosive'' {{IPA|ǂ}}, or "palatal"; ''laminal palatal affricated'' {{IPA|ǂᶴ}} (known only from [[Ekoka !Kung]]); ''subapical postalveolar'' {{IPA|𝼊}}, or "[[Retroflex click|retroflex]]" (only known from [[Central !Kung]] and possibly Damin); and ''apical (post)alveolar lateral'' {{IPA|ǁ}}, or "lateral".

{| class="wikitable"
|+Place of articulation of initial release<ref>Click releases are not in themselves consonants (segments). To transcribe a click consonant, a second IPA letter is needed for the rear place of articulation, as in {{angbr IPA|k͡ǂ}} or {{angbr IPA|ǂ͡qχʼ}}</ref>
|-
![[labial click|Labial]]||[[dental click|Dental]]||[[alveolar click|Alveolar]]||[[slapped click|Slapped]]||[[retroflex click|Retroflex]]||[[domed click|Domed]]||[[palatal click|Palatal]]||[[lateral click|Lateral]]||[[linguolabial click|Linguolabial]]||[[velar click|Velar]]
|-align=center
|rowspan=2|{{IPA|ʘ}}||rowspan=2|{{IPA|ǀ}}||rowspan=2|{{IPA|ǃ}}||{{IPA|ǃ¡}}||rowspan=2|{{IPA|𝼊}}||rowspan=2|{{IPA|ǂᶴ}} ({{IPA|𝼋}})||rowspan=2|{{IPA|ǂ}}||rowspan=2|{{IPA|ǁ}}||{{IPA|ǀ̼}}||{{IPA|ʞ}}
|-
|(allophonic)||colspan=2|(paralexical only)
|}

Languages illustrating each of these articulations are listed below. Given the poor state of documentation of Khoisan languages, it is quite possible that additional places of articulation will turn up. No language is known to contrast more than five.

{| class=wikitable
! Click place<br />inventory !! Languages !! Notes
|-
| 1 release, variable {{IPA|ǀ ~ ǁ}} || [[Dahalo language|Dahalo]] || Various nasal clicks only.
|-
| 1 release, variable {{IPA|ǀ ~ ǃ}} || [[Sotho language|Sotho]], [[Swazi language|Swazi]] || In Sotho the clicks tend to be alveolar, in Swazi dental.
|-
| 1 release, variable {{IPA|ǀ ~ ǃ ~ ǁ or ǂ}} || [[Fwe language|Fwe]], [[Gciriku language|Gciriku]] || Tend to be dental.
|-
| 3 releases, {{IPA|ǀ}}, {{IPA|ǂ}}, {{IPA|ǁ}} || [[Kwadi language|Kwadi]] || {{IPA|ǂ}} and {{IPA|ǁ}} not found with all manners, but these may be accidental gaps, as Kwadi is poorly attested
|-
| 3 releases, {{IPA|ǀ}}, {{IPA|ǃ}}, {{IPA|ǁ}} || [[Sandawe language|Sandawe]], [[Hadza language|Hadza]], [[Xhosa language|Xhosa]], [[Zulu language|Zulu]] || In Sandawe, {{IPA|ǃ}} is often "slapped" {{IPA|[ǃ¡]}}.
|-
| 3–4 releases, {{IPA|ʘ}}, {{IPA|ǀ}}, ({{IPA|ǃ}},) {{IPA|ǁ}} || [[ǁXegwi language|ǁXegwi]] || {{IPA|ǃ}} reacquired in loans
|-
| 4 releases, {{IPA|ǀ}}, {{IPA|ǂ}}, {{IPA|ǃ}}, {{IPA|ǁ}} || [[Korana language|Korana]], [[Khoekhoe language|Khoekhoe]], [[Yeyi language|Yeyi]], [[Juǀʼhoan dialect|Juǀʼhoan]] ||
|-
| 4 releases, {{IPA|ǀ}}, {{IPA|ǂᶴ}}, {{IPA|ǃ}}, {{IPA|ǁ}} || [[Ekoka !Kung]] || 
|-
| 5 releases, {{IPA|ʘ}}, {{IPA|ǀ}}, {{IPA|ǂ}}, {{IPA|ǃ}}, {{IPA|ǁ}} || [[ǂHoan language|ǂHõã]], [[Nǁng language|Nǀu]], [[ǀXam language|ǀXam]], [[Taa language|Taa]] ||
|-
| 5 releases, {{IPA|ǀ}}, {{IPA|ǂ}}, {{IPA|ǃ}}, {{IPA|𝼊}}, {{IPA|ǁ}} || [[Grootfontein !Kung]] ||
|-
| 5 releases, {{IPA|ʘ}}, {{IPA|ʘ↑}}, {{IPA|ǀ}}, {{IPA|ǃ}}, {{IPA|𝼊}} || [[Damin]] || Aside from {{IPA|/ʘ↑/}}, which is not technically a click, all are nasal.
|}

Extra-linguistically, [[Coatlán Zapotec]] of [[Mexico]] uses a [[linguolabial]] click, {{IPA|[ǀ̼ʔ]}}, as [[mimesis]] for a pig drinking water,<ref name="Azcona">Rosemary Beam de Azcona, ''Sound Symbolism''. Available at http://www.linguistics.berkeley.edu/~rosemary/55-fall2003-onomatopoeia.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070623145306/http://www.linguistics.berkeley.edu/~rosemary/55-fall2003-onomatopoeia.pdf |date=23 June 2007 }}</ref> and several languages, such as [[Wolof language|Wolof]], use a [[velar click]] {{IPA|[ʞ]}}, long judged to be physically impossible, for [[Backchannel (linguistics)|backchanneling]] and to express approval.<ref>Lenore Grenoble (2014) "Verbal gestures: Toward a field-based approach to language description". In Plungian et al. (eds.), ''Language. Constants. Variables: In memory of A. E. Kibrik'', 105–118. Aleteija:  Saint Petersburg.</ref> An extended dental click with lip pursing or compression ("[[sucking-teeth]]"), variable in sound and sometimes described as intermediate between {{IPA|[ǀ]}} and {{IPA|[ʘ]}}, is found across West Africa, the Caribbean and into the United States.

The exact place of the alveolar clicks varies between languages. The lateral, for example, is alveolar in Khoekhoe but postalveolar or even palatal in Sandawe; the central is alveolar in Nǀuu but postalveolar in Juǀʼhoan.<ref>Amanda Miller (2011) "The Representation of Clicks", ''The Blackwell Companion to Phonology''.</ref>

===Names found in the literature===

The terms for the click types were originally developed by Bleek in 1862.<ref>Wilhelm Bleek (1862) ''A Comparative Grammar of South African Languages'', vol. 1, pp. 12–13</ref> Since then there has been some conflicting variation. However, apart from "cerebral" (retroflex), which was found to be an inaccurate label when true retroflex clicks were discovered, Bleek's terms are still considered normative today. Here are the terms used in some of the main references.

{|class="wikitable"
|+ Names in the literature
! Click type !! Bleek (1862) !! Doke (1926)|| IPA (1928) || Beach (1938) || IPA (1949) || IPA (1989) || Unicode || Miller et al. (2009)<ref>Miller, Brugman, Sands, Namaseb, Exter & Collins (2009) ''Differences in airstream and posterior place of articulation among Nǀuu clicks, ''Journal of the International Phonetic Association'' 39, 129–161.</ref> || Vossen (2013)<ref>[[Rainer Vossen]] (2013) Introduction, ''The Khoesan Languages'', Routledge</ref>|| other
|-
| {{IPA|ǀ}} || dental || dental || dental || dental affricative || dental || dental || dental || denti-pharyngeal || dental || alveolar affricated; denti-alveolar; apico-lamino-dental
|-
| {{IPA|ǃ}} || cerebral || palato-alveolar ||cerebral || alveolar implosive || retroflex || (post-)alveolar || retroflex || central alveo-uvular || alveolar || palatal; palatal retroflex; apico-palatal
|-
| {{IPA|ǁ}} || lateral || lateral || alveolar lateral || lateral affricative || lateral || (alveolar) lateral || lateral || lateral alveo-uvular || lateral-alveolar || post-alveolar lateral; lateral apico-alveo-palatal
|-
| {{IPA|ǂ}} || palatal || alveolar|| velar || denti-alveolar implosive || velar || palatoalveolar || alveolar || palato-pharyngeal || palatal || alveolar instantaneous; dental
|-
| {{IPA|ʘ}} ||  || || ||  ||  || bilabial || bilabial || labio-uvular || bilabial || labial
|}

The dental, lateral and bilabial clicks are rarely confused, but the palatal and alveolar clicks frequently have conflicting names in older literature, and non-standard terminology is fossilized in Unicode. However, since Ladefoged & Traill (1984) clarified the places of articulation, the terms listed under Vosser (2013) in the table above have become standard, apart from such details as whether in a particular language {{IPA|ǃ}} and {{IPA|ǁ}} are alveolar or postalveolar, or whether the rear articulation is velar, uvular or pharyngeal, which again varies between languages (or may even be contrastive within a language).