A few people were whispering and chattering quietly in the corner.
Tips
history
嘁 is not used independently in modern Chinese; it occurs only in the onomatopoeic 嘁嘁喳喳 (whispering and chattering) and 嘁哩喀喳 (quick and brisk). It joins the mouth radical 口 with the phonetic 戚.
register
Bound and colloquial-literary; appears only in fixed sound words, not as a free word on its own.