English

Proper noun

!Kung

1. Alternative form of ǃKung
   • 1985, Carl Sagan, Cosmos, page 139:

     For example, the !Kung* Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana have an explanation for the Milky Way, which at their latitude is often overhead.

     […]

     *The exclamation point is a click, made by touching the tongue against the inside of the incisors, and simultaneously pronouncing the K.

   • 2000, Carl N. McDaniel, John M. Gowdy, Paradise for Sale: A Parable of Nature, page 78:

     The exclamation point in !Kung is pronounced as a click and is characteristic of Khoisan languages.

Anagrams

• gunk

References

1. ↑ 1992, Alan Barnard, Hunters and Herders of Southern Africa, page xxii: Finally, it may be of interest to the non-specialist that the pronunciation of clicks in ethnic group names is entirely optional when speaking a non-Khoisan language. Acceptable anglicizations may be produced either by articulating a non-click sound of approximately the same phonological position (e.g. p for ʘ, t for ǀ or ǂ, k for ǁ or ǃ), or by ignoring the click entirely and simply pronouncing the release followed by the remainder of the word. When speaking English, I myself say Kung for 'ǃKung', Gwi for 'Gǀwi', and Gana for 'Gǁana'. […] Ko for 'ǃXõ', Kam for 'ǀXam' […]