Note 166 — Chapter IV · PHONOLOGY AND SEMATOLOGY. (continued 2)

Bleek: “Comparative Grammar of South African Languages,” pp. 12-15. The lateral click is sounded by the Kafirs, as by Europeans, by placing the tongue against the side-teeth, and then withdrawing it, whereas the Nama Hottentots produce it as far back as possible, covering the whole of the palate with the tongue. The palatal click of the Hottentots, which is very difficult to imitate, seems to be found in one or two Kafir words. The clicks, it must be noted, only occur in the Kafir dialects adjoining the Hottentots, and the Kafir clicks “are only found in the place of other consonants, and are used like consonants at the beginning of syllables, whilst in Hottentot a guttural explosive consonant (k, kh, or g), the faucal spirant h and the nasal n, can be immediately preceded by a click, and form together with it the initial element of the syllables.”