Plucked idiophones, also known as linguaphones , have as their distinguishing feature an elastic lingua, or series of linguae, fixed at one end and left free to vibrate at the other. The free end is flexed and promptly released; this flexing can be either manual or, as in more developed forms, mechanical.
One of the simplest forms of linguaphone is the Melanesian cricri, a fruit shell, nut, or other substance that serves as resonator, with a tongue carved from its surface...