Some Languages Have Click Consonants

The familiar "tsk-tsk" of disapproval or the clucking noise used to urge on a horse are, for most of us, just expressive sounds that exist outside of regular speech. For speakers of certain languages, however, these types of sounds are as fundamental as the letters 'p' or 'k'. Known as click consonants, these sharp sounds are produced by creating a pocket of air with two points of closure in the mouth and then releasing the forward closure. They are a hallmark of the Khoisan language families of southern Africa, but through centuries of contact, they also spread to neighboring Bantu languages like Xhosa and Zulu.

This linguistic feature showcases the incredible diversity of human speech. While English speakers use around 44 distinct sounds, or phonemes, to form all our words, some languages have inventories that are vastly more complex. The Taa language, spoken by a small population in Botswana and Namibia, is a prime example of this phonological richness. It is recognized as having the largest sound inventory of any known language, boasting over 160 distinct sounds. A majority of these, sometimes counted at over 100, are different types of click consonants, each distinguished by subtle variations in tongue placement and airflow. This remarkable system highlights the amazing capacity of the human vocal tract and brain to produce and perceive an immense range of sounds.