The Clicking Sounds Some Languages Use
Make a little click with your tongue, like you're telling a horse to giddy-up. Tk! Did you know some people around the world use that exact sound as part of real words when they talk? In Southern Africa, languages like Xhosa and Zulu use click sounds as letters, just like we use B or T!
What You'll Learn
- That some languages use clicks and pops as real letter sounds - Three different click sounds and how your mouth makes each one - The name of a famous click language: Xhosa - How to practice saying a click sound yourself
Clicks Are Real Letters
In English, we only use our breath to make sounds, blowing air out while our tongue and lips shape it into letters like S or M. But click languages make sounds a totally different way: by trapping air in the mouth and popping it loose with the tongue, no breath needed at all! Xhosa, a language spoken by millions of people in South Africa, has three main click sounds built right into its words, the same way English has the letter L.
Three Clicks to Try
The dental click sounds like a little 'tsk' -- touch your tongue right behind your top front teeth and pull it away quickly. The lateral click is the 'giddy-up' sound, made by clicking the side of your tongue off your back teeth, like calling a horse. The alveolar click is a sharper 'tock' sound, made by popping your tongue off the roof of your mouth, right behind your teeth. Xhosa speakers use all three inside regular words, blending them smoothly with vowels and other letters, the exact same way you blend a T sound into the word 'top.'
Where Click Languages Come From
Click sounds are especially common in languages spoken by groups in Southern Africa, including Xhosa, Zulu, and the San peoples, whose languages are some of the oldest still spoken on Earth today. Scientists who study how humans first learned to talk think click sounds might be some of the very first kinds of sounds early humans ever made, because they don't need any breath control at all, just quick tongue movements.
The word 'Xhosa' itself starts with a click sound! Try saying 'click' with your tongue right before you say 'osa' -- that's close to how Xhosa speakers say the name of their own language.
How do click languages like Xhosa make their special click sounds?
Which sound is the 'lateral click,' the one that sounds like calling a horse?
Match each click to how you make it.
Terms
Definitions
Drag terms onto their definitions, or click a term then click a definition to match.
Practice Your Clicks
With a grown-up or friend, practice all three click sounds: the tsk (dental), the giddy-up (lateral), and the tock (alveolar). Say each one 5 times. Then try saying the word 'Xhosa' by putting a click sound right at the start. Draw a picture of your mouth making your favorite click and label which one it is.
Click sounds are so useful that some spies and hunters use them too -- they're quiet and don't carry far, which is part of why some Southern African languages that use them developed in places where hunting quietly mattered.
Flashcards — click each card to reveal the answer
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