Sounds You Didn’t Know Existed in Real Languages

There are more than 7,000 languages across the planet. As humans came together throughout history in various different societies with various cultures, communication became more important than ever. For this reason, languages began to morph in fast and extreme ways, combining the features of one tongue with another. Languages began to share elements and influence each other, an idea that is very apparent in areas of the world where pidgins and creoles are spoken. Everything, from structure of sentences to verb aspect to sounds themselves, began to change in a manner that was unlike the language change that had existed until that point for thousands of years. Change started to stem from interaction outside of a language, rather than from within it. Bilingual speakers became a commonplace, if not the norm. But, there is a very key factor in all of this: power.

Power, the idea that there is a dominant force that exists and has control over an opposing force, influences every aspect of our lives. It is quite literally in our DNA. Even though we know ourselves to be the product of two humans, our (biological) mothers and fathers, zooming in shows us that we are a series of X’s and O’s, 1’s and 0’s, this’s and that’s, yes’s and no’s. At a microscopic level, we are a vast and disparate collection of binaries. This doesn’t mean that we, as humans, are binary. This is a horrific and misleading conclusion. From these binaries emerge unique and complicated creations. It is the reason why evolution is possible and why we share a sizable amount of DNA with anything from a manta ray to a cucumber. Our individual genes are 1’s and 0’s, but to classify our full selves in this way would be a wild misrepresentation of who we actually are. Fortunately and unfortunately, language is powerful. It frames the way we talk about and view the world in many regards. The world is far from black and white, but we often choose to see it that way.

What does this have to do with the interaction of languages? Well, even though every language has its own way of describing the world in which it is spoken, some of these ways are boosted and judged as holding more value, sometimes completely arbitrarily. This value can easily be spun into the deduction that one language is “better” or “more useful” than another language. This is an extremely complicated process, something that could happen very slowly or fairly quickly. Globalization and colonization sped up this process hugely, making possible the fact that I speak (more or less) the same language as someone who is on the opposite part of the globe in Australia, or why Spanish is the primary language of Latin America when its origins are across the Atlantic ocean. Whether it is due population size, trade necessity, prestige, or something darker like slavery or genocide, one language usually comes out on top and becomes the majority, but usually not without getting influenced by a minority language along the way. If you know someone who doesn’t speak a language that their parent spoke with their family growing up, it is this very process that has occurred and it is one reason why “language death” is a reality. It is no coincidence that while English is the most spoken language on Earth, it is also the case that the overwhelming majority of these speakers are non-native and had to learn it as a second or third language.

And that, my friends, is why I would be impressed if you could name more than 100 of those 7000 languages. The proportions of language to number of speakers are anything but equal. It is the reason why 50% of the world speaks natively 23 of those 7000. And so, that brings us to the meat of this post, sounds that have been forgotten by most of the world but are very much still relevant to the speakers of the languages that use them. I’ve compiled a list of ten sounds (or groups of sounds) that most would classify as unfamiliar or strange or downright weird (including some in English)! I’ll link a YouTube video so you can hear each sound yourself.

1. Clicks ʘ ǀ ǃ ǂ ǁ

Clicks are one of the better known rare consonants. Most sounds are created by pushing air out of the lungs and through the oral cavity, but clicks are created by closing the mouth in one place or another, reducing the pressure of the space inside the oral cavity, and then opening a closure. This causes a rapid flow of air into the mouth, caused by the pressure differential, and this is what makes the sound.

Clicks are not hard to make, in fact, many cultures use clicks in non-linguistic ways. They can be a form of paralinguistic communication, similar to a head nod or a thumbs up. The first symbol /ʘ/ the bilabial click, is simply a kissing sound with the lips more spread out rather than puckered. The dental click /ǀ/ is the same as the “tsk-tsk” sound that some use to signal disappointment or disapproval. The post-alveolar click /!/ is the “clop-clop” sound that is reminiscent of a ticking clock. The palatal click /ǂ/ is sometimes known as the tongue pop and it is made with the roof of the mouth and the center of the tongue. Finally, the lateral click /ǁ/ is similar, but the air flows over the sides of the tongue, rather than the center. It is a sound that is used to call or direct horses in some cultures.

Though unusual, these sounds are used in many East and South African and Austronesian languages. They are used in regular words, just like any other consonant. Look up videos of !Xhosa or Zulu to get a feel for what they sound like in speech.

2. Implosives ɓ ɗ ʄ ɠ ʛ

Implosive consonants use a stream of air that flows into the mouth. This pressure is built up by lowering the glottis (your Adam’s apple) with a closed mouth and then releasing that closure, as opposed to clicks which mainly utilize the tongue. These sounds are usually voiced because it would be hard to distinguish them otherwise, but not always. There are five common implosives, a bilabial (at the lips) /ɓ/, alveolar (at the ridge behind the teeth) /ɗ/, palatal (at the hard palate/roof of the mouth) /ʄ/, velar (at the soft palate) /ɠ/, and uvular (at the uvula) /ʛ/.

Implosives are found in around 1/8 of the world’s languages. They are most concentrated in Africa, Asia, and South America. Look up Igbo or Sindhi for more.

3. Voiceless labiovelar approximant ʍ

This one is pretty simple. To make it, simply hold the “w” sound as in wait, and then cut out the voice. It is similar to the sound you would make blowing out your birthday candles or mimicking the wind. Even though this sound is not complicated to make, it is hard to imagine speaking a language where this sound is used frequently, or is it? There are actually dialects of English that make use of this sound pretty heavily. Remember that “Wheat Thins” commercial featuring Stewie Griffin from Family Guy? That “h” he is putting emphasis on is actually just a voiceless labiovelar approximant!

4. Labiodental nasal ɱ

This is a nasal sound, like /m/ or /n/. You might be familiar with the velar nasal /ŋ/ which is usually written as “ng” in English. We don’t usually think about the fact the this “ng” replaces the /n/ sound whenever it precedes a /k/ sound, as in the word bank, for example. Well, the labiodental nasal /ɱ/ is similar. It is the nasal that precedes any /f/ or /v/ sound. Pay close attention to the way you say the word environment or information. Chances are you probably don’t have your mouth in the same position as when you say the word indoors.

This sound is fairly common in languages that has /f/ and /v/. Almost no languages, however, make a distinction between this sound and /m/ or /n/. In other words, you won’t find a word that differs only by the presence of /m/ versus /ɱ/. There is only one language, Kukuya, that claims use both as distinct sounds.

5. Voiceless alveolar lateral affricate t͡ɬ

This sound is not particularly rare, but I find it very interesting because it is usually stylized as “tl” and even though this is probably the closest to it, it doesn’t accurately describe it. This sound is an affricate, like the “ch” sound or “j” sound. Both of these sounds are actually made up of two different sounds that are pronounced so closely in succession that they become one. The “ch” sound is a “t” sound followed by an “sh” sound, and “j” is a “d” followed by a “zh” sound (like the “g'“ in genre).

With that in mind, this affricate sound combined “t” with a fricative sound. A fricative is a sound that constricts airflow without completely cutting it off, like the “f” or “th” sounds in English. The fricative in this case is a voiceless one that has the same place as the “l” sound. To make it, put your tongue in the same position as if you are making an “l” sound and breathe out of your mouth, letting the air rush over the sides of your tongue. Now put a “t” in front of it and your making the /t͡ɬ/ sound. This sound is used mostly in the American continents, though it is also found in Africa and Iceland.

If you’ve heard of the Mexican Walking Fish, the axolotl, now you know how to correctly pronounce it. In addition, the “x” is more of a “sh” sound. It’s a nice party trick if you find yourself amongst linguists.

6. High central unrounded vowel ɨ

Here’s a rather uncommon sound that we do have in English. The reason why this vowel is uncommon is because it is only present in languages that have a large number of vowels, and a language is more likely to have 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 vowels, this not being one of them. English, on the other hand, has 13. You might not believe me, but we do. Between stressed and unstressed vowels (gate vs get), front, mid, and back vowels (meet vs mutt vs moat), and high and low vowels (gone vs goon), we have a lot.

The thing that is interesting about this vowel is that even though it is very common in English, a native speaker would probably never pick it out as a separate vowel, but it most definitely is. Think of an English noun that ends with an /s/ or a /z/ sound. Cross, Grass, Rose. Now, make it plural. Crosses, Grasses, Roses. Say that plural noun out loud and pause when you get to the vowel at the end. You’ll find that it doesn’t really sound like any other vowel. Now try to replace it with any other vowel you know. You’ll probably find that it sounds off, like you have an accent.

This vowel is present all over the world, but again, usually in languages with many vowels, like Russian, Turkish, Mongolian, or Chinese. (I can’t find a clear video of this sound, but the Wikipedia page has a sound file).

7. Voiceless postalveolar-velar fricative ɧ

Present only in certain dialects of Swedish (and possibly German), this sound is one of the rarest in the entire world and it is quite controversial. Linguists are constantly debating whether or not this sound deserves to be recognized as a single sound or not. It is known as the Sj-sound.

This sound, like the “w” sound in English, makes use of two places in the mouth simultaneously. Just as “w” involves a change in shape of the lips, it also requires the tongue root to move back against the soft palate (velum). Otherwise, it would just sound like “ooh.” To make this sound, you have to make both the “sh” sound and the “ch” sound from German which is sometimes described as a hard “h.” I encourage you to look up more about it, because it is very difficult to explain and understand, even as a linguistics major.

8. Uvular ejective affricate q͡χʼ

I’ve included this one for two reasons: 1) because it is an ejective, which I will explain, and 2) because I think it is the funniest sound that the human mouth can make. An ejective is a sound that uses a buildup of pressure, which is then released outwards. The difference between this and a plosive sound, like /p/ or /d/, is that the glottis is raised in order to create more pressure. When the sound is released, the air that rushes out of the mouth is much faster and sounds different than a normal plosive sound.

The sound is an affricate, like #5 on this list, so it involves two sounds in rapid succession. They are both uvular sounds, a plosive and fricative. The uvula is the little soft cone at the back of the mouth, next to the tonsils. This one is hard to pronounce, but it uses the back of the tongue against the uvula, and in my opinion, it is kind of painful. Listen to what it sounds like at the Wikipedia page here. I hope it makes you laugh.

It is an exceedingly rare sound, present in mostly extinct languages of the American continents, like Wintu. Maybe it’s become so rare because it sort of hurts to say.

9. Voiced labiovelar stop ɡ͡b

This is a very unique sound because it is a plosive (stop) that uses two places at once. Unlike the other sounds on this list that use two places within the mouth, this sound involves complete closure of the oral cavity which is then released from those two places at the same time. Essentially this sound is the /g/ sound and the /b/, but said together. I can barely even hear it as different from /b/, no less pronounce it myself.

It is present in many Niger-Congo languages, including Igbo from #2 (it’s even in the name). I am not sure if this is considered to be an affricate or if it would just be called a double-stop. Let me know if you know the answer!

10. Voiced bilabial trill ʙ

Have you ever been around a baby who is babbling, testing out their vocal cords and speech capabilities in a random, unintelligible manner? If you have, you’ve probably heard this sound. To make it, you put your lips together, protrude them out, and blow through them so that they vibrate, just like the Spanish “r” which is also a trill. It might seem ridiculous that this sound is actually used in some languages, but it is usually pretty short when it is pronounced and it usually follow a bilabial stop /b/ or /p/, but not always.

This sound is found in languages from all over, on islands, in China, India, South America, Australia, Africa, though not in Europe.

And there you have it, ten of the sounds you might not have known existed in actual languages. How many did you know? And of course, there are sounds that we can make that are not in actual languages, but that’s a topic for another day.