Palatal lateral ejective affricate
c𝼆ʼ
cʎ̝̊ʼ
Audio sample

The palatal lateral ejective affricate is a rare type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is c͜𝼆ʼ (extIPA; strict IPA: c͜ʎ̝̊ʼ).

It is a rare sound, found in Dahalo, a Cushitic language of Kenya, and in Hadza, a language isolate of Tanzania. In Dahalo, /c͜𝼆ʼ/ contrasts with alveolar /t͜ɬʼ/, and in Hadza it contrasts with velar [k͜𝼄ʼ], an allophone of /kʼ/.

Features

Features of the palatal lateral ejective affricate:

Occurrence

Language Word IPA Meaning
Dahalo[1] [ʔac𝼆ʼáno] 'semen'
Hadza[2] [mitc𝼆ʼa] 'bone'

The Hadza sound has been transcribed as [t͜𝼆ʼ], but alveolar contact of the tongue is variable and not distinctive.

Notes

References

  • Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996), The Sounds of the World's Languages, Oxford: Blackwell, ISBN 0-631-19815-6
  • Maddieson, Ian; Spajić, Siniša; Sands, Bonny; Ladefoged, Peter (1993), "Phonetic structures of Dahalo", in Maddieson, Ian (ed.), UCLA working papers in phonetics: Fieldwork studies of targeted languages, vol. 84, Los Angeles: The UCLA Phonetics Laboratory Group, pp. 25–65