Alex Fink wrote:
> On Fri, 10 Jul 2009 08:38:34 -0400, Brett Williams <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
[snip]
> 
>>> It's also unusual (or unheard of?) for a natlang to have only one click.
> 
> Yes, I think "unheard of" is right, if we exclude such marginalities as the
> clicks are in English (and maybe even then: perhaps you get several
> marginally once you get one).  
> 
> Despite Jim's invocation I'm not any particular expert on clicks, but
> there's one fact that people on the whole (under the influence of IPA charts
> I think) fail to appreciate and that accordingly I find myself preaching a
> lot: in natlangs that honestly have them, clicks form a _two-dimensional_
> system, both place of click and manner of coarticulation varying.  

AMEN!

Xhosa has the following [You'll need a monospace font to 
read this sensibly]:


			Dental	Palatal*   Lateral
voiceless unaspirated	  c	  q	     x
voiceless aspirated	  ch	  qh	     xh
voiced unaspirated	  gc	  gq	     gx
voiceless nasal		  nc	  nq	     nx
voiced nasal		  ngc	  ngq	     ngx
glottalized nasal	  nkc	  nkq	     nkx

* described by some as 'post-alveolar

Zulu has all except the glottalized nasal series.
	
> Well,
> there's some question of whether these clicks with coarticulations should be
> phonemically single segments or clusters, 

The IPA representation of these different clicks suggest 
clusters, but I agree the matter is debatable.

> but AIUI the distributional facts
> are clearly those.  Generally I say that when people are making
> one-dimensional systems of clicks, 

IIRC Swati has only the dental grade of clicks.

> but you've got yourself a zero-dimensional system here...

Yes, altho odd clicks may occur as exclamations in many 
languages that do not otherwise have them (e.g. in English), 
I know of no natlangs that have a single, solitary click as 
part of its phoneme inventory.

I guess in a language with a restricted consonant inventory 
such as the Polynesian languages, one might come across this 
(tho the Polynesian langs, of course, do not have clicks); 
but even then I would expect a nasal & non-nasal click.

-- 
Ray
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