[162] That is, the guttural sonant in question.
[163] As in nach.
[164] This is the guttural sonant in question.
[165] “Die Kerenzer Mundart,” p. 5.
[166] Bleek: “Comparative Grammar of South African Languages,” pp. 12-15. The lateral click is sounded by the Kafirs, as by Europeans, by placing the tongue against the side-teeth, and then withdrawing it, whereas the Nama Hottentots produce it as far back as possible, covering the whole of the palate with the tongue. The palatal click of the Hottentots, which is very difficult to imitate, seems to be found in one or two Kafir words. The clicks, it must be noted, only occur in the Kafir dialects adjoining the Hottentots, and the Kafir clicks “are only found in the place of other consonants, and are used like consonants at the beginning of syllables, whilst in Hottentot a guttural explosive consonant (k, kh, or g), the faucal spirant h and the nasal n, can be immediately preceded by a click, and form together with it the initial element of the syllables.”
[167] See above, [p. 243]. The compound dental click is produced, according to Wuras, by pressing the air through the upper and lower teeth, which stand slightly apart. Dr. Bleek says that “the Bushman word for ‘to sleep’ seems to be ǀphkoĩnyé, beginning with a combination of dental click, aspirated labial and guttural tenuis in which three letters are sounded together.”
[168] Ellis: “Early Engl. Pron.” p. 1349.
[169] Professor Mahaffy notices that “old women among us express pity by a regular palatal click.”
[170] Sievers holds that our th (as in the) is sometimes “reduced” to a glide (“Grundzüge,” p. 91).
[171] “The Japanese ṛ,” says Mr. Sweet, “seems to be formed by first bringing the tip of the tongue against the gums without any emission of breath, and then passing on to an untrilled r, allowing voiced breath to pass at the moment of removing the tongue.” The sound has been mistaken for r, l, or even d, and as it is substituted for all foreign l’s and r’s, the Japanese tendency to change l into r has been contrasted with the Chinese tendency to change r into l. It is possible that the Old Egyptian possessed the same curious sound.