Definition

Noun: A suction stop is a type of consonant sound produced by creating a vacuum with the tongue against the roof of the mouth and then releasing it with a distinctive clicking sound. It is also known as a click consonant and is not native to most Indo-European languages like English.

Usage and Examples

• Noun:
  • Linguists study the suction stops found in languages like Xhosa and Zulu.
  • The sound represented by the symbol "ǃ" is a dental suction stop.

Advanced Usage

• In phonetic terminology, a "suction stop" is classified as a lingual ingressive airstream mechanism, where the air rushes the mouth.
• These sounds are a distinctive feature of the Khoisan language family and several Bantu languages of Southern Africa.

Variants and Related Words

• Click (n): The more common general term for this class of sounds.
  • Clicks, or suction stops, are rare in the world's languages.
• Ingressive (adj): Describing a sound where the airstream flows inward.

Synonyms

• Click consonant
• Click

Related Terms and Notes

• Plosive: A more common type of "stop" consonant (like /p/, /t/, /k/) made by blocking and then releasing outward airflow. This contrasts with a suction stop, which uses inward airflow.
• Place of articulation: Suction stops can be dental (like ǀ), alveolar (like ǃ), or lateral (like ǁ), depending on where the tongue creates the vacuum.

Noun

1. a stop consonant made by the suction of air into the mouth (as in Bantu)