SEALTEACH query: clicks in Southeast Asia (fwd)

[Yuphaphann Hoonchamlong]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 10:28:26 -0700 (PDT)
From: Frank Smith <vox at speakeasy.org>
Reply-To: sealteach at nectec.or.th
To: David Gil <gil at eva.mpg.de>
Cc: "sealteach at nectec.or.th" <sealteach at nectec.or.th>
Subject: SEALTEACH query: clicks in Southeast Asia

In Khmer, yes, the click exists, and it's palatal...it's definitely negative,
and it's used in several ways...one is to indicate dissatisfaction, disapproval
of someone's actions or a situation; the other (related) function is to alert
someone (usually a child, or maybe a drunk adult) that they're acting
inappropriately.  In my experience it's not used very casually but is reserved
for what the speaker judges to be fairly grave or serious circumstances.

Frank


David Gil <gil at eva.mpg.de> wrote:

My questions are the following:

(1) In the language(s) you are familiar with, does there exist a click
sound with a meaning broadly associated with logical negation (as in
Hebrew), negative affect (as in English), or positive affect (as in
Kammu)?

[Please note:  I am also particularly eager to collect *negative* data,
ie. claims (provided they are solid and robust) to the effect that a
certain language does NOT have any click sounds associated with such
functions.]

If your answer to (1) is yes, then ...

(2) What are the phonetic properties of the click sound?  (Is it dental
like English "tsk-tsk", lateral as in Russian, etc.?)




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