Occurrence
Dental clicks are common in Khoisan languages and the neighboring Nguni languages, such as Zulu and Xhosa. In the Nguni languages, the tenuis click is denoted by the letter c, the murmured click by gc, the aspirated click by ch, and the nasal click by nc. The prenasalized clicks are written ngc and nkc.
The Cushitic language Dahalo has four clicks, all of them nasalized: .
Dental clicks may also be used used para-linguistically. For example, English speakers use a plain dental click, usually written tsk or tut (and often reduplicated tsk-tsk or tut-tut; these spellings often lead to spelling pronunciations /tɪsk/ or /tʌt/), as an interjection to express commiseration, disapproval, irritation, or to call a small animal. German (ts or tss), Hungarian (cöccögés), Portuguese (tsc) and French (tut-tut) speakers use the dental click in exactly the same way as English.
The dental click is also used para-linguistically Middle-Eastern languages such as Arabic, Hebrew, Pashto, and Persian where it is transcribed as 'نچ'/'noch' (including Dari and Tajiki). It is also used some languages spoken in regions closer to, or in, Europe, such as Turkish, Greek, Bulgarian, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian or Serbian to denote a negative response to a "yes or no" question. The dental click is sometimes accompanied by an upward motion of the head.
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zulu | icici | = | earring | |
| ukuchaza | = | to fascinate | ||
| isigcino | = | end | ||
| incwancwa | = | sour corn meal | ||
| ingcosi | = | a bit | ||
| Hadza | cinambo | = | firefly | |
| cheta | = | to be happy | ||
| minca | = | to smack one's lips | ||
| tacce | = | rope | ||
| Khoekhoe | ǀgurub | = | dry autumn leaves | |
| ǀnam | = | to love | ||
| ǀHōǂgaeb | = | November | ||
| ǀoroǀoro | = | to wear s.t. out | ||
| ǀkhore | = | to divine, prophesize | ||
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