Re: Bat Sounds/Phonology Redux

> Date:    Wed, 1 Oct 2003 23:23:56 -0400
> From:    Herman Miller <hmiller@...>
> Subject: Re: Bat Sounds/Phonology Redux
>
> On Wed, 1 Oct 2003 09:18:07 -0700, Adam Walker <carrajena@...> wrote:
>
>
>>Well, Zulu uses "x", "c" and "q" to represent clicks.
>>"X" is lateral. "Q" is palatal.  And "c" is alveolar,
>>IIRC.
>
>
> I think "c" is dental and "q" is alveolar in Zulu (and Xhosa). Palatal
> clicks aren't very common.
>
> I've used "!" as a diacritic to represent clicks; p! for a bilabial click,
> t! for an alveolar click, and so on. If your language has more than the few
> clicks that have common symbols (bilabial, dental, alveolar, palatal, and
> lateral), you might want to consider something like that.
>
> ------------------------------
I guess I need to think about *that* some more.  Xhosa was the language
I was thinking of when I made reference to African languagesm but it
hadn't occured to me that they would used more than one kind of click!
It makes sense, now that I consider it.  I guess I'm still pretty
Western European in my thinking about language.
The way I was imagining it was as a remnant of their sonar system.  Sort
of a "one ping" kind of sounding to check the responsiveness of their
conversation mate.  The way we might read body language or facial
expression.  How is it used in Xhosa and Zulu?  Or, how did you use
clicks in your languages?

Stuff for me to think about.
Thanks!
Jim

--
"It's better to light one candle
   than to curse the darkness."
-Chinese Proverb and The Motto of the Christophers
                      http://www.christophers.org

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