Affricate consonant

IPA chart affricate consonants
p̪͡f t͡s d͡z t͡ʃ d͡ʒ t͡ɕ d͡ʑ ʈ͡ʂ ɖ͡ʐ b̪͡v t͡ɬ d͡ɮ c͡ç ɟ͡ʝ k͡x q͡χ
Where symbols appear in pairs, left—right represent the voiceless—voiced consonants
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An affricate is a consonant that begins as a stop and releases as a fricative, generally with the same place of articulation (most often coronal). It is often difficult to decide if a stop and fricative form a single phoneme or a consonant pair.^[1] English has two affricate phonemes, [t͡ʃ] and [d͡ʒ], often spelled ch and j.

Examples

The English sounds spelled "ch" and "j" (transcribed [t͡ʃ] and [d͡ʒ] in the IPA), German and Italian z [t͡s] and Italian z [d͡z] are typical affricates. These sounds are fairly common in the world's languages, as are other affricates with similar sounds, such as those in Polish and Chinese. However, other than [d͡ʒ], voiced affricates are relatively uncommon. For several places of articulation they are not attested at all.

Much less common are labiodental affricates, such as [p͡f] in German and Izi, or velar affricates, such as [k͡x] in Tswana (written kg) or High Alemannic Swiss German dialects. Worldwide, relatively few languages have affricates in these positions, even though the corresponding stop consonants, [p] and [k], are common or virtually universal. Also less common are alveolar affricates where the fricative release is lateral, such as the [t͡ɬ] sound found in Nahuatl and Navajo. Some other Athabaskan languages, such as Dene Suline, have unaspirated, aspirated, and ejective series of affricates where the release may be dental, alveolar, postalveolar, or lateral, that is [t̪͡θ], [t̪͡θʰ], [t̪͡θʼ], [t͡s], [t͡sʰ], [t͡sʼ], [t͡ʃ], [t͡ʃʰ], [t͡ʃʼ], [t͡ɬ], [t͡ɬʰ], and [t͡ɬʼ].

Notation

Affricates are transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet by a combination of two letters, one for the stop element and the other for the fricative element. In order to show that these are parts of a single consonant, a tie bar is generally used. The tie bar appears most commonly above the two letters, but may be placed under them if it fits better there, or simply because this is more legible.^[2] Thus:

• ⟨p͡f, t͡sʼ, d͡z, t͡ɬ, d͡ɮ, t͡ʃʼ, d͡ʒ, t͡ɕʼ, d͡ʑ, t͡ʂʼ, d͡ʐ , k͡xʼ⟩

or

• ⟨p͜f, t͜sʼ, d͜z, t͜ɬ, d͜ɮ, t͜ʃʼ, d͜ʒ, t͜ɕʼ, d͜ʑ, t͜ʂʼ, d͜ʐ , k͜xʼ⟩.

A less common notation is to indicate the release of the affricate with a superscript:

• ⟨pᶠ, tˢ, dᶻ, tᶴ, dᶾ, kˣ⟩.

This is derived from the IPA convention of indicating other releases with a superscript. However, this convention is more typically used for a fricated release that is too brief to be considered a true affricate.

Though they are no longer standard IPA, ligatures are available in Unicode for the six common affricates

• ⟨ʦ, ʣ, ʧ, ʤ, ʨ, ʥ⟩.

Any of these notations can be used to distinguish affricates from sequences of stop plus fricative, a difference that distinguishes words in languages such as Polish. However, in languages where there is no such distinction, such as English, the tie bars are commonly dropped.

In other phonetic transcription systems, such as the Americanist system, the affricates [t͡s], [d͡z], [t͡ʃ], [d͡ʒ], [t͡ɬ], [d͡ɮ] are transcribed respectively as ⟨c⟩ or ⟨¢⟩; ⟨j⟩, ⟨ƶ⟩, or (older) ⟨ʒ⟩; ⟨c⟩ or ⟨č⟩; ⟨ǰ⟩, ⟨ǧ⟩, or (older) ⟨ǯ⟩; ⟨ƛ⟩; and ⟨λ⟩ or ⟨dl⟩. Within the IPA, [tʃ] and [dʒ] are sometimes transcribed with the symbols for the palatal stops, ⟨c⟩ and ⟨ɟ⟩.

Affricates vs. stop–fricative sequences

In some languages (but not all), affricates contrast phonemically with stop–fricative sequences. Examples:

• Polish affricate /t͡ʂ/ in czysta 'clean (f.)' versus stop–fricative /tʂ/ in trzysta 'three hundred',

and

• Klallam affricate /t͡s/ in k’ʷə́nc 'look at me' versus stop–fricative /ts/ in k’ʷə́nts 'he looks at it'.

In the stop–fricative sequence, the stop has a release burst before the fricative starts; but in the affricate, the fricative element is the release. Stop–fricative sequences may have a syllable boundary between the two segments, but not necessarily.

In English, /ts/ and /dz/ (nuts, nods) are considered phonemically stop–fricative sequences because they usually contain a morpheme boundary (for example, nuts = nut + s), but the sounds are phonetically affricates. The English affricate phonemes /t͡ʃ/ and /d͡ʒ/ are generally not at a morpheme boundary. However, depending on dialect, English speakers may distinguish an affricate from a stop–fricative sequence in some contexts, such as when the sequence occurs across syllable boundaries:

• cat shit /kæt.ʃɪt/ → [kʰæʔʃɪt̚]
• catch it /kæt͡ʃ.ɪt/ → [kʰæt͡ʃɪt̚]

Here /t/ debuccalizes to a glottal stop before /ʃ/ in many dialects, making it phonetically distinct from /t͡ʃ/.

One acoustic criterion for differentiating affricates and stop–fricative sequences is the rate of amplitude increase of the frication noise, which is known as the rise time. Affricates have a short rise time to the peak frication amplitude whereas stop–fricative sequences have longer rise times (Howell & Rosen 1983, Johnson 2003, Mitani et al. 2006).

List of affricates

In the case of coronals, the symbols ⟨t, d⟩ are normally used for the stop portion of the affricate regardless of place. For example, [t͡ʂ] is commonly seen for [ʈ͡ʂ].

The exemplar languages are ones that have been reported to have these sounds, but in several cases they may need confirmation.

Sibilant affricates

Voiceless	Languages	Voiced	Languages
Voiceless alveolar affricate t͡s	German z, tz Japanese つ/ツ [tsu͍] K'iche' Mandarin z (pinyin) Pashto	Voiced alveolar affricate d͡z	Japanese (some dialects)
Voiceless dental affricate t̪͡s̪	Hungarian c Italian z Macedonian ц Serbo-Croatian c/ц Polish c	Voiced dental affricate d̪͡z̪	Bulgarian дз Hungarian dz Italian z Macedonian ѕ Polish dz
Voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate t͡ɕ	Japanese ち/チ [tɕi] Mandarin j (pinyin) Polish ć, ci Serbo-Croatian ć/ћ Thai จ	Voiced alveolo-palatal affricate d͡ʑ	Japanese じ/ジ, ぢ/ヂ [dʑi] Polish dź, dzi Serbo-Croatian đ/ђ
Voiceless postalveolar affricate t͡ʃ	English ch, tch French tch German tsch Hungarian cs Italian ci, ce K'ich'e ch Spanish ch	Voiced postalveolar affricate d͡ʒ	English j, g French dj German dsch Hungarian dzs Italian gi, ge
Voiceless retroflex affricate ʈ͡ʂ	Mandarin zh (pinyin) Polish cz Serbo-Croatian č/ч Slovak č	Voiced retroflex affricate ɖ͡ʐ	Polish dż Serbo-Croatian dž/џ Slovak dž

The Northwest Caucasian languages Abkhaz and Ubykh both contrast sibilant affricates at four places of articulation: alveolar, postalveolar, alveolo-palatal and retroflex. They also distinguish voiceless, voiced, and ejective affricates at each of these.

When a language only has one type of affricate, it is usually a sibilant; this is the case in e.g. some Arabic dialects ([d̠ʒ]), most dialects of Spanish ([t̠ʃ]), and Thai ([t̠ɕ]).

Non-sibilant affricates

Lateral affricates

Trilled affricates

Heterorganic affricates

Although most affricates are homorganic, Navajo and Chiricahua Apache have a heterorganic alveolar-velar affricate [tx] (McDonough & Ladefoged 1993, Hoijer & Opler 1938). Wari’ has a voiceless dental bilabially trilled affricate [t̪ʙ̥] (see #Trilled affricates). Other heterorganic affricates are reported for Northern Sotho (Johnson 2003) and other Bantu languages such as Phuthi, which has alveolar–labiodental affricates [tf] and [dv], and Sesotho, which has bilabial–palatoalveolar afficates [pʃ] and [bʒ]. Djeoromitxi (Pies 1992) has [ps] and [bz].

Phonation, coarticulation and other variants

The more common of the voiceless affricates are all attested as ejectives as well: [tθʼ, tsʼ, tɬʼ, tʃʼ, tɕʼ, tʂʼ, cʎ̥ʼ, kxʼ, kʟ̝̊ʼ]. Several Khoisan languages such as !Xóõ are reported to have voiced ejective affricates, but these may actually be consonant clusters: [dtsʼ, dtʃʼ]. Affricates are also commonly aspirated: [ɱp̪fʰ, tθʰ, tsʰ, tɬʰ, tʃʰ, tɕʰ, tʂʰ], occasionally murmured: [ɱb̪vʱ, d̠ʒʱ], and sometimes prenasalized: [ⁿdz, ⁿdzʱ, ᶯɖʐ, ᶯɖʐʱ]. Labialized, palatalized, velarized, and pharyngealized affricates also occur. Affricates may also have phonemic length, that is, affected by a chroneme, as in Italian and Karelian.

Phonological representation

In phonology, affricates tend to behave similarly to stops, taking part in phonological patterns that fricatives do not. Kehrein analyzes phonetic affricates as phonological stops.^[4] A sibilant or lateral (and presumably trilled) stop can only be realized phonetically as an affricate, and so might be analyzed phonemically as a sibilant or lateral stop. In this analysis, affricates other than sibilants and laterals are a phonetic mechanism for distinguishing stops at similar places of articulation (e.g. more than one labial, coronal, or dorsal place). For example, Chipewyan has laminal dental [t̪͡θ] vs. apical alveolar [t]; other languages may contrast velar [k] with palatal [c͡ç] and uvular [q͡χ]. Affricates may also be a strategy to increase the phonetic contrast between aspirated or ejective and tenuis consonants. According to Kehrein, no language contrasts a non-sibilant, non-lateral affricate with a stop at the same place of articulation and with the same phonation and airstream mechanism, such as /t̪/ and /t̪θ/ or /k/ and /kx/.

Affrication

Affrication (sometimes called affricatization) is a sound change by which a consonant, usually a stop or fricative, changes into an affricate. Examples include:

• Old English [k] > Modern English [tʃ], as in chin (cf. German Kinn; see also yod-coalescence in English)
• [p, t, k] > [pf, ts, kx] in the High German consonant shift
• [t] > [ts, tɕ] before [ɯᵝ, i] respectively in 16th-century Japanese^[5]
• [r] > [dʒ, dʑ] word-initially in Udmurt^[6]

Pre-affrication

In rare instances, a fricative–stop contour may occur. This is the case in dialects of Scotts Gaelic that have velar frication [ˣ] where other dialects have pre-aspiration. For example, in the Harris dialect there is [ʃaˣkʰ] 'seven' and [əhʷɔˣkʰ] 'eight' (or [ʃax͜kʰ], [əhʷɔx͜kʰ]).^[7]

See also

• Apical consonant
• Hush consonant
• Laminal consonant
• Index of phonetics articles

References

External links

• Affricates in English

International Phonetic Alphabet   IPA topics IPA International Phonetic Association History of the IPA Extensions to the IPA Kiel convention (1989) Journal of the IPA (JIPA) Naming conventions Phonetics Diacritics Segments Tone letter Place of articulation Manner of articulation Special topics Case variants of IPA letters Handwritten IPA Obsolete and nonstandard symbols IPA chart for English dialects Encodings SAMPA X-SAMPA Kirshenbaum TIPA Phonetic symbols in Unicode WorldBet IPA Braille   Consonants IPA pulmonic consonantschart image • audio Place → Labial Coronal Dorsal Laryngeal ↓ Manner Bilabial Labio­dental Linguo­labial Dental Alveolar Palato- alveolar Retroflex Alveolo- palatal Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyngeal / Epiglottal Glottal Nasal m̥ m ɱ n̼̊ n̼ n̥ n ɳ̊ ɳ ɲ̊ ɲ ŋ̊ ŋ ɴ̥ ɴ Stop p b p̪ b̪ t̼ d̼ t d ʈ ɖ c ɟ k ɡ q ɢ ʡ ʔ Sibilant affricate ts dz tʃ dʒ ʈʂ ɖʐ tɕ dʑ Non-sibilant affricate pɸ bβ p̪f b̪v tθ dð tθ̠ dð̠ t̠ɹ̠̊˔ d̠ɹ̠˔ cç ɟʝ kx ɡɣ qχ ɢʁ ʡħ ʡʕ ʔh Sibilant fricative s z ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ɕ ʑ Non-sibilant fricative ɸ β f v θ̼ ð̼ θ ð θ̱ ð̠ ɹ̠̊˔ ɹ̠˔ ç ʝ x ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ h ɦ ʔ̞ Approximant ɸ˕ ʋ θ̞ ɹ̥ ɹ ɻ̊ ɻ j̊ j ɰ̊ ɰ Flap or tap ⱱ̟ ⱱ ɾ̼ ɾ̥ ɾ ɽ̊ ɽ ɢ̆ ʡ̮ Trill ʙ r̼ r̥ r ɽr̥ ɽr ʀ̥ ʀ ʜ ʢ Lateral affricate tɬ dɮ ʈɭ̊˔ cʎ̥˔ kʟ̝̊ ɡʟ̝ Lateral fricative ɬ ɮ ɭ̊˔ ʎ̥˔ ʎ̝ ʟ̝̊ ʟ̝ Lateral approximant l̼ l̥ l ɭ̊ ɭ ʎ̥ ʎ ʟ ʟ̠ Lateral flap ɺ̼ ɺ ɭ̆ ʎ̮ ʟ̆ Non-pulmonic consonants Simple clicks ʘ ʘ̬ ʘ̃ ǀ ǀ̬ ǀ̃ ǃ ǃ̬ ǃ̃ ǂ ǂ̬ ǂ̃ ǁ ǁ̬ ǁ̃ ǃ˞ ǃ̬˞ ǃ̃˞ Other clicks ʘ̃ˀ ʘˀ ˀʘ̃ ʘ͡q ʘ͡qχ ʘ͡qʼ ʘ͡qχʼ ¡ ʞ Implosives ɓ ɗ ᶑ ʄ ɠ ʛ ɓ̥ ɗ̥ ᶑ̥ ʄ̊ ɠ̊ ʛ̥  Ejectives pʼ tʼ ʈʼ cʼ kʼ qʼ ʡʼ fʼ θʼ sʼ ɬʼ ʃʼ ʂʼ ɕʼ xʼ χʼ tsʼ tɬʼ tʃʼ ʈʂʼ tɕʼ cʎ̝̥ʼ kxʼ kʟ̝̊ʼ qχʼ Co-articulated consonants Continuants ʍ w ɥ̊ ɥ ɫ Occlusives k͡p ɡ͡b ŋ͡m ɧ t͡p d͡b n͡m q͡ʡ — These tables contain phonetic symbols, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help] — Where symbols appear in pairs, left–right represent the voiceless–voiced consonants. — Shaded areas denote pulmonic articulations judged to be impossible or not distinctive. Chart image Pulmonics Non-pulmonics Affricates Co-articulated   Vowels Front Near-​front Central Near-​back Back Close •iy •ɨʉ •ɯu •ɪʏ •ɪ̈ʊ̈ •ɯ̽ʊ •eø •ɘɵ •ɤo •e̞ø̞ •əɵ̞ •ɤ̞o̞ •ɛœ •ɜɞ •ʌɔ •æ •ɐɞ̞ •aɶ •äɒ̈ •ɑɒ Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open IPA help • chart •  chart with audio • view