Retroflex click

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Family of click consonants

title: "Retroflex click" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["retroflex-consonants", "click-consonants"] description: "Family of click consonants" topic_path: "general/retroflex-consonants" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retroflex_click" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Family of click consonants ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox IPA"]

Field	Value
above	Retroflex click type
ipa symbol	𝼊ψ
decimal1	122634
decimal2	968
imagefile	IPA Unicode 1xDF0A.svg
::

The retroflex clicks are a family of click consonants known only from the Central ǃKung language or dialect of Namibia. They are sub-apical retroflex and should not be confused with the more widespread postalveolar clicks, which have also been called "retroflex" (for example in Unicode) due to their concave tongue shape and sometimes apical-retroflex articulation.

The 'implicit' symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents the forward articulation of these sounds is . However, usage is rare. In the literature, retroflex clicks are typically written with the ad hoc digraph , the convention since Doke identified them as retroflex in 1925. (Doke's proposed symbol, , did not catch on, though it has IPA support for historical transcription, nor did Vedder's and Anders' . For a while Amanda Miller, who noted a lateral fricated release (as had Vedder), transcribed them .)

Retroflex clicks are extraordinarily rare. True retroflex clicks occur in at least some dialects of Central ǃKung. They are reconstructed for the Proto-Kxʼa language and tentatively for Proto-Khoe–Kwadi. A nasal retroflex click is reported from Damin.

Retroflex click consonants and their transcription

Basic retroflex clicks in three common transcription conventions are: ::data[format=table]

Trans. I	Trans. II	Trans. III	Description	(velar)	(uvular)
			tenuis retroflex click
			aspirated retroflex click
			voiced retroflex click
			retroflex nasal click
			aspirated retroflex nasal click
			glottalized retroflex nasal click
			tenuis retroflex click
			aspirated retroflex click
			voiced retroflex click
			retroflex nasal click
			aspirated retroflex nasal click
			glottalized retroflex nasal click
::

Features

Features of postalveolar clicks:

The place of articulation is post-alveolar, and the tongue shape may be subapical, which means it is articulated with the tip of the tongue curled up. The center of the tongue moves downward to create suction.

Occurrence

As with other click articulations, retroflex clicks may be produced with various manners. An example is the voiced retroflex click in the Grootfontein ǃKung (Central Juu) word for 'water', (g‼ú).

Damin is the only other language known to have had such a sound, though only the nasal click occurred. It occurred as both a single and a doubled consonant, which was articulated twice. It was apico-domal, and no comparison was ever done with the Central Juu articulation.

A retroflex series claimed for Ekoka ǃKung turns out to be domed palatal clicks.

References

(June 2, 2010). "Retroflex Clicks in Two Dialects of ǃXung". University of Botswana, Department of African Languages.
Kirk Miller & Michael Ashby, [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20253r-mod-ipa-b.pdf L2/20-253R] Unicode request for IPA modifier letters (b), non-pulmonic.
The character {{angbr IPA. 𝼊 was recently added to Unicode in 2021. It may be substituted in some fonts with a combining diacritic, such as {{angbr IPA. ǃ̢ (with U+0322 {{Smallcaps all. COMBINING RETROFLEX HOOK BELOW) or {{angbr IPA. ǃ̨ (with U+0328 {{Smallcaps all. COMBINING OGONEK).
Doke, Clement M.. (1925). "An outline of the phonetics of the language of the ʗhũ: Bushman of the North-West Kalahari". Bantu Studies.
Anders, H.D.. (1935). "A note on a South Eastern Bushman dialect". Zeitschrift für Eingeborenen-Sprachen.
Miller, Amanda. (2009). "Contrastive Coronal Click Types in !Xung".
Anne-Maria Fehn & Jorge Rocha (2023) Lost in translation: A historical-comparative reconstruction of Proto-Khoe-Kwadi based on archival data. ''Diachronica'' 40:5, p. 609–665.

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