Many of the San words in this book contain sounds unfamiliar to English speakers. In addition to the more usual phonetic representations, the following symbols are used for the clicks that are a distinctive feature of the Khoisan language family, which comprises the many San (Bushman) and the Khoekhoen languages. The Khoekhoe were formerly known by the highly pejorative word ‘Hottentot’. We take the descriptions of these sounds from Lorna Marshall’s book The !Kung of Nyae Nyae (1976):1
/ Dental click The tip of the tongue is placed against the back of the upper front teeth; in the release, it is pulled away with a fricative sound. English speakers use a similar sound in gentle reproof.
! Alveolar-palatal click The tip of the tongue is pressed firmly against the back of the alveolar ridge where it meets the hard palate and is very sharply snapped down. A loud pop results. English speakers use this sound to imitate horses’ hoofs on paving.
≠ (Alveolar click The front part of the tongue, more than the tip, is pressed against the alveolar ridge and drawn sharply downward when released.
// Lateral click The tongue is placed as for the alveolar click. It is released at the sides by being drawn in from the front teeth. Horse riders sometimes use lateral clicks to signal their steeds to start or go faster.
X In San orthography, X indicates a guttural sound as in the Scottish loch.
In Bantu language (e.g., isiZulu, isiXhosa) orthography, clicks, which derive from Khoisan languages, are represented as follows:
/ = c
! = q
// = x
Readers who experience difficulty with the clicks are advised simply to omit them.