"tsk tsk": clicks in non-click lgs

[David Gil]

Something a little different ...

In English, there is a sound, written either "tsk-tsk" or "tut-tut",
which is a dental click, symbolized as "|".  Its use is as an
exclamation, expressing disapproval, impatience, mockery, or, more
generally, what might be characterized as "negative affect".

The purpose of this query is to explore the cross-linguistic
distribution of click sounds, such as "|", in "non-click-languages",
used to express various notions of negativity.

The English "tsk-tsk" occurs also in Irish, French, German and Japanese.
 However, in Russian, similar negative affect may be expressed either
with "|" or with a lateral click "||".  Interestingly, in a contiguous
zone including southern Italian, Greek, Bulgarian, Turkish, Georgian,
Persian, Hebrew and Tunis Arabic, the "tsk-tsk" sound is associated with
a somewhat more grammaticalized function: simple negation.  Thus, in
response to a yes-no question, a dental click is an appropriate answer,
meaning, simply, "no".  However, in many languages in other parts of the
world, there seem to exist no corresponding usages of click sounds,
though there may be other usages.  For example, in Tagalog, a biliabial
click (or perhaps ingressive fricative) is used to attract attention,
eg. by cigarette vendors calling out for customers, or by passengers on
a bus when they want the driver to stop.

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 negation (as in Hebrew) or
negative affect (as in English)?

[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, etc.?)

(3)  How is the click sound used?  (Does it express negative affect like
English "tsk-tsk", simple negation as in Hebrew, etc.?)

Any other related comments, ideas, and so forth, would also be greatly appreciated.

**********

Appendix:
Here are some references for clicks and negativity:

[1]  Darwin, Charles (1872) "The Expression of the Emotions in Man and
Animals", D. Appleton and Company, New York.

(Available online at
http://paradigm.soci.brocku.ca/~lward/Darwin/darwin00.html,  chapter 11
mentions "clucks" associated with gestures for "no")

[2]  Morris, Desmond, Peter Collett, Peter marsh and Marie O'shaughnessy
(1979) "Gestures", Stein and Day, New York.

(Maps the geographical distribution, within Europe, of 20 different
gestures, one of which, the "Head Toss", also involves the dental click.)

[3] LINGUIST List 3.1012, Wed 23 Dec 1992, Sum: Yes/No Gestures

(Available online at http://linguist.emich.edu/issues/3/3-1012.html,
mentions the "tsk tsk" sound with the meaning of negation.)

I'd also be grateful for any additional references on this topic.

--
David Gil

Department of Linguistics
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Inselstrasse 22, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany

Telephone: 49-341-9952321
Fax: 49-341-9952119
Email: gil at eva.mpg.de
Webpage:  http://monolith.eva.mpg.de/~gil/