Editing Click consonant (section)

===Complex clicks===
Clicks may be pronounced with a third place of articulation, glottal. A [[glottal stop]] is made during the hold of the click; the (necessarily voiceless) click is released, and then the glottal hold is released into the vowel. Glottalised clicks are very common, and they are generally nasalised as well. The nasalisation cannot be heard during the click release, as there is no pulmonic airflow, and generally not at all when the click occurs at the beginning of an utterance, but it has the effect of nasalising preceding vowels, to the extent that the glottalised clicks of Sandawe and Hadza are often described as prenasalised when in medial position. Two languages, [[Gǀwi dialect|Gǀwi]] and [[Yeyi language|Yeyi]], contrast plain and nasal glottalised clicks, but in languages without such a contrast, the glottalised click is nasal. Miller (2011) analyses the glottalisation as phonation, and so considers these to be simple clicks.

Various languages also have prenasalised clicks, which may be analysed as consonant sequences. [[Sotho language|Sotho]], for example, allows a syllabic nasal before its three clicks, as in ''nnqane'' 'the other side' (prenasalised nasal) and ''seqhenqha'' 'hunk'.

There is ongoing discussion as to how the distinction between what were historically described as 'velar' and 'uvular' clicks is best described. The 'uvular' clicks are only found in some languages, and have an extended pronunciation that suggests that they are more complex than the simple ('velar') clicks, which are found in all. Nakagawa (1996) describes the extended clicks in [[Gǀwi dialect|Gǀwi]] as [[consonant cluster]]s, sequences equivalent to English ''st'' or ''pl'', whereas Miller (2011) analyses similar sounds in several languages as click–non-click [[contour (linguistics)|contours]], where a click transitions into a pulmonic or ejective articulation within a single segment, analogous to how English ''ch'' and ''j'' transition from occlusive to fricative but still behave as unitary sounds. With ejective clicks, for example, Miller finds that although the ejective release follows the click release, it is the rear closure of the click that is ejective, not an independently articulated consonant. That is, in a simple click, the release of the rear articulation is not audible, whereas in a contour click, the rear (uvular) articulation is audibly released after the front (click) articulation, resulting in a double release.

These contour clicks may be ''linguo-pulmonic'', that is, they may transition from a click (lingual) articulation to a normal pulmonic consonant like {{IPAblink|ɢ}} (e.g. {{IPA|[ǀ͡ɢ]}}); or ''linguo-glottalic'' and transition from lingual to an ejective consonant like {{IPAblink|qʼ}} (e.g. {{IPA|[ǀ͡qʼ]}}): that is, a sequence of ingressive (lingual) release + egressive (pulmonic or glottalic) release. In some cases there is a shift in place of articulation as well, and instead of a uvular release, the uvular click transitions to a velar or [[Epiglottal consonant|epiglottal]] release (depending on the description, {{IPA|[ǂ͡kxʼ]}} or {{IPA|[ǂᴴ]}}). Although [[homorganic]] {{IPA|[ǂ͡χʼ]}} does not contrast with heterorganic {{IPA|[ǂ͡kxʼ]}} in any known language, they are phonetically quite distinct (Miller 2011).

Implosive clicks, i.e. velar {{IPA|[ɠ͡ʘ ɠ͡ǀ ɠ͡ǃ ɠ͡ǂ ɠ͡ǁ]}}, uvular {{IPA|[ʛ͡ʘ ʛ͡ǀ ʛ͡ǃ ʛ͡ǂ ʛ͡ǁ]}}, and ''de facto'' front-closed palatal {{IPA|[ʄ͡ʘ ʄ͡ǀ ʄ͡ǃ ʄ͡ǁ]}} are not only possible but easier to produce than modally voiced clicks. However, they are not attested in any language.<ref>Kenneth Pike, ed. Ruth Brend (1972) ''Selected Writings: To Commemorate the 60th Birthday of Kenneth Lee Pike''. p. 226</ref>

Apart from Dahalo, Damin and many of the Bantu languages (Yeyi and Xhosa being exceptions), 'click' languages have glottalized nasal clicks. Contour clicks are restricted to southern Africa, but are very common there: they are found in all members of the Tuu, Kxʼa and Khoe families, as well as in the Bantu language Yeyi.