An example of this sound is the clucking sound used by equestrians to urge their horses on.
Features of this consonant:
Its manner of articulation is click, which means it is produced with two articulatory closures in the oral cavity. The pocket of air enclosed between the two closures is rarefied by a "sucking" action of the tongue. The release of the more forward closure produces the 'click' sound.
It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth.
It is a lateral consonant, which means it is produced by allowing the airstream to flow over the sides of the tongue, rather than the middle of the tongue.
Lateralclicks may be either oral or nasal, which means air is allowed to escape either through the mouth or the nose.
The lateralclicks are common in Khoisan languages and the neighboring Nguni languages (e.g.
In the Nguni languages, the tenuis click is denoted by the letter x, the murmured click by gx, the aspirated click by xh (as in "Xhosa"), and the nasal click by nx.