Perspectives on complex click consonants of Khoekhoegowab

Abstract

The paper offers an alternative way of describing what is called complex click consonants in Khoesan languages. Using data obtained from key informants and focused groups from the Karas, Hardap and the Kunene regions of Namibia as well as relevant literature we argue that co-articulated clicks should be treated as one sound represented by one grapheme. We argue that plain clicks in Khoekhoegowab are not glotalised as perceived because the glotalisation comes from the accompanying vowel. Using articulatory, acoustic and auditory phonetics we also problematize the notion of ‘complexity’ in the click complexes by showing that these click consonants play the same morphophonological role as consonants found in non-click languages. Thereafter the implications of this for cluster and unitary analysis are also discussed.