query: clicks in Southeast Asia

[David Gil]

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 Southeast Asian languages,
used to express various notions of negativity, or opposite positive notions.

The English "tsk-tsk" occurs also in 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 Italian, Greek, Turkish, Hebrew, Arabic and Persian, the
"tsk-tsk" sound is associated with a somewhat more grammaticalized
function: simple logical negation.  Thus, in response to a yes-no
question, a dental click is an appropriate answer, meaning, simply,
"no".  In contrast, 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.  In particular, in some languages of Southeast Asia and
Oceania, including Kammu, Minangkabau, Maybrat and Paamese, the "tsk
tsk" sound is used to express positive, rather than negative affect.

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.?)

(3)  How is the click sound used?  What does it express?

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

**********

Appendix:
Here are some references for clicks in non-click languages:

[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/