pronounced as /affricates/pronounced as /notice/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, pronounced as //t͜ʃ// and pronounced as //d͜ʒ//, often spelled ch and j, respectively.
The English sounds spelled "ch" and "j" (broadly transcribed as pronounced as /[t͡ʃ]/ and pronounced as /[d͡ʒ]/ in the IPA), German and Italian z pronounced as /[t͡s]/ and Italian z pronounced as /[d͡z]/ are typical affricates, and sounds like these are fairly common in the world's languages, as are other affricates with similar sounds, such as those in Polish and Chinese. However, voiced affricates other than pronounced as /[d͡ʒ]/ are relatively uncommon. For several places of articulation they are not attested at all.
Much less common are labiodental affricates, such as pronounced as /[p͡f]/ in German and Izi, or velar affricates, such as pronounced as /[k͡x]/ in Tswana (written kg) or in High Alemannic Swiss German dialects. Worldwide, relatively few languages have affricates in these positions even though the corresponding stop consonants, pronounced as /[p]/ and pronounced as /[k]/, are common or virtually universal. Also less common are alveolar affricates where the fricative release is lateral, such as the pronounced as /[t͡ɬ]/ sound found in Nahuatl and Navajo. Some other Athabaskan languages, such as Dene Suline, have unaspirated, aspirated, and ejective series of affricates whose release may be dental, alveolar, postalveolar, or lateral: pronounced as /[t̪͡θ]/, pronounced as /[t̪͡θʰ]/, pronounced as /[t̪͡θʼ]/, pronounced as /[t͡s]/, pronounced as /[t͡sʰ]/, pronounced as /[t͡sʼ]/, pronounced as /[t͡ʃ]/, pronounced as /[t͡ʃʰ]/, pronounced as /[t͡ʃʼ]/, pronounced as /[t͡ɬ]/, pronounced as /[t͡ɬʰ]/, and pronounced as /[t͡ɬʼ]/.
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 it is more legible.[2] Thus:
(IPA|p͡f b͡v, t͡s d͡z, t͡ɬ d͡ɮ, t͡ʃ d͡ʒ, t͡ᶘ d͡ᶚ, t͡ɕ d͡ʑ, ʈ͡ʂ ɖ͡ʐ, k͡x)or
(IPA|p͜f b͜v, t͜s d͜z, t͜ɬ d͜ɮ, t͜ʃ d͜ʒ, t͜ɕ d͜ʑ, ʈ͜ʂ ɖ͜ʐ, k͜x).
A less common notation indicates the release of the affricate with a superscript:
(IPA|pᶠ bᵛ, tˢ dᶻ, t d, tᶴ dᶾ, [pending in Unicode 17], tᶝ dᶽ, tᶳ dᶼ, 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 sibilant affricates, which remain in common use:
(IPA|ʦ ʣ, ʧ ʤ,, ʨ ʥ, ꭧ ꭦ).
Approved for Unicode in 2024, per request from the IPA, are the remaining coronal affricates:[3]
(IPA|𝼤|20px|link=wikt:𝼤𝼟|20px|link=wikt:𝼟, 𝼢|20px|link=wikt:𝼢𝼠|20px|link=wikt:𝼠, 𝼣|20px|link=wikt:𝼣𝼡|20px|link=wikt:𝼡, 𝼬|20px|link=wikt:𝼬𝼫|20px|link=wikt:𝼫) for pronounced as /[t͜θ] [d͜ð], [t͜ɬ] [d͡ɮ], [t͡ꞎ] [d͡], [t͜ʆ] [d͡ʓ]/.
Any of these notations can be used to distinguish an affricate from a sequence of a stop plus a fricative, which is contrastive in languages such as Polish. However, in languages where there is no such distinction, such as English or Turkish, a simple sequence of letters is common used, with no overt indication that they form an affricate.
In other phonetic transcription systems, such as the Americanist system, affricates may be transcribed with single letters. The affricate pronounced as /[t͜s]/ is transcribed as (c) or (¢); pronounced as /[d͜z]/ as (j), (ƶ) or (older) (ʒ); pronounced as /[t͜ʃ]/ as (c) or (č); pronounced as /[d͡ʒ]/ as (ǰ), (ǧ) or (older) (ǯ); pronounced as /[t͜ɬ]/ as (ƛ); and pronounced as /[d͡ɮ]/ as (λ) or (dl).
Within the IPA, pronounced as /[tʃ]/ and pronounced as /[dʒ]/ are sometimes transcribed with the symbols for the palatal stops, (IPA|c) and (IPA|ɟ).
In some languages, affricates contrast phonemically with stop–fricative sequences:
The exact phonetic difference varies between languages. In stop–fricative sequences, the stop has a release burst before the fricative starts; but in affricates, the fricative element is the release. Phonologically, stop–fricative sequences may have a syllable boundary between the two segments, but not necessarily.
In English, pronounced as //ts// and pronounced as //dz// (nuts, nods) are considered phonemically stop–fricative sequences. They often contain a morpheme boundary (for example, nuts = nut + s). The English affricate phonemes pronounced as //t͡ʃ// and pronounced as //d͡ʒ// do not generally contain morpheme boundaries.
The phonemic distinction in English between the affricate pronounced as //t͡ʃ// and the stop–fricative sequence pronounced as //t.ʃ// (found across syllable boundaries) can be observed by minimal pairs such as the following:
In some accents of English, the pronounced as //t// in 'worst shin' debuccalizes to a glottal stop before pronounced as //ʃ//.
Stop–fricatives can be distinguished acoustically from affricates by the rise time of the frication noise, which is shorter for affricates. (Howell & Rosen 1983, Johnson 2003, Mitani et al. 2006).
In the case of coronals, the symbols (IPA|t, d) are normally used for the stop portion of the affricate regardless of place. For example, (IPA|t͡ʂ) is commonly seen for (IPA|ʈ͡ʂ).
The exemplar languages are ones that have been reported to have these sounds, but in several cases, they may need confirmation.
| Voiceless | Languages | Voiced | Languages | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
pronounced as /soundbox/ | German z, tz Japanese つ/ツ pronounced as /[tsu͍]/ Kʼicheʼ Mandarin z (pinyin) Italian z Pashto Pushto; Pashto: څ | pronounced as /soundbox/ | Japanese (some dialects) Italian z Pashto Pushto; Pashto: ځ | |
pronounced as /soundbox/ | Hungarian c Macedonian ц Serbo-Croatian c/ц Polish c | pronounced as /soundbox/ | Hungarian dz Macedonian ѕ Bulgarian дз Polish dz | |
pronounced as /soundbox/ | Japanese ち/チ pronounced as /[tɕi]/Mandarin j (pinyin) Polish ć, ci Serbo-Croatian ć/ћ Thai จ Vietnamese ch | pronounced as /soundbox/ | Japanese じ/ジ, ぢ/ヂ pronounced as /[dʑi]/ Polish dź, dzi Serbo-Croatian đ/ђ Korean ㅈ | |
pronounced as /soundbox/ | English ch, tch French tch Portuguese tch German tsch Hungarian cs Italian ci, ce Romanian ci, ce Kʼicheʼ ch Persian Persian: چ Spanish ch | pronounced as /soundbox/ | Arabic Arabic: ج English j, g French dj Portuguese dj Hungarian dzs Italian gi, ge Romanian gi, ge | |
pronounced as /soundbox/ | Mandarin zh (pinyin) Polish cz Serbo-Croatian č/ч Slovak č Vietnamese tr | pronounced as /soundbox/ | Polish dż Serbo-Croatian dž/џ Slovak dž |
When a language has only one type of affricate, it is usually a sibilant; this is the case in e.g. Arabic (pronounced as /[d̠ʒ]/), most dialects of Spanish (pronounced as /[t̠ʃ]/), and Thai (pronounced as /[tɕ]/).
| Sound (voiceless) | IPA | Languages | Sound (voiced) | IPA | Languages | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as /[pɸ]/ | Present allophonically in Kaingang and Taos. Not reported as a phoneme in any natural language. | pronounced as /[bβ]/ | Allophonic in Banjun[4] and Shipibo | |||
| pronounced as /[pf]/ | pronounced as /[bv]/ | Teke | ||||
| pronounced as /[p̪f]/ | XiNkuna Tsonga | pronounced as /[b̪v]/ | XiNkuna Tsonga | |||
| pronounced as /[t̪θ]/ | New York English, Luo, Dene Suline, Cun, some varieties of Venetian and other North Italian dialects | pronounced as /[d̪ð]/ | New York, Dublin, and Maori English, Dene Suline | |||
| pronounced as /[tɻ̝̊]/ | Mapudungun, Malagasy | pronounced as /[dɻ̝]/ | Malagasy | |||
| pronounced as /[cç]/ | Skolt Sami (younger speakers), Hungarian (casual speech), Albanian (transcribed as [c]), allophonically in Kaingang | pronounced as /[ɟʝ]/ | Skolt Sami (younger speakers), Hungarian (casual speech), Albanian (transcribed as [ɟ]), some Spanish dialects. Not reported to contrast with a voiced palatal plosive pronounced as /[ɟ]/ | |||
| pronounced as /[kx]/ | pronounced as /[ɡɣ]/ | Allophonic in some English English[5] | ||||
| pronounced as /[qχ]/ | Nez Percé, Wolof, Bats, Kabardian, Avar, Tsez. Not reported to contrast with a voiceless uvular plosive pronounced as /[q]/ in natural languages. | pronounced as /[ɢʁ]/ | Reported from the Raivavae dialect of Austral[6] and Ekagi with a velar lateral allophone pronounced as /[ɡʟ]/ before front vowels. | |||
| pronounced as /[ʡħ]/ | Haida. Not reported to contrast with an epiglottal stop pronounced as /[ʡ]/ | pronounced as /[ʡʕ]/ | Somali. Only pronounced as [ʡʢ] when 'c' occurs initially, otherwise realized as [ʡ][7] | |||
| pronounced as /[ʔh]/ | Voiced glottal affricate | pronounced as /[ʔɦ]/ | Not attested in any natural language |
| Sound (voiceless) | IPA | Languages | Sound (voiced) | IPA | Languages | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as /[tɬ]/ | Cherokee, Nahuatl, Navajo, Tswana, etc. | pronounced as /[dɮ]/ | Gwich'in, Sandawe. Not reported to ever contrast with a voiced alveolar lateral fricative pronounced as /[ɮ]/. | |||
| pronounced as /[ʈꞎ]/ | Bhadrawahi, apical post-alveolar. Realization of phonemic pronounced as //ʈl// in Kamkata-vari and Kamvari.[8] | pronounced as /[ɖ]/ | Bhadrawahi, apical post-alveolar. Realization of phonemic pronounced as //ɖl// in Kamkata-vari and Kamviri. | |||
| pronounced as /[c]/ | as ejective pronounced as /[cʼ]/ in Dahalo; in free variation with pronounced as /[t]/ in Hadza. | pronounced as /[ɟʎ̝]/ | Allophonic in Sandawe. | |||
| pronounced as /[k]/ | as a prevelar in Archi and as an ejective pronounced as /[kʼ]/ in Zulu, also exist in the Laghuu language. | pronounced as /[ɡʟ̝]/ | Laghuu. |
See main article: Trilled affricate.
| Sound (voiceless) | IPA | Languages | Sound (voiced) | IPA | Languages | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voiceless trilled bilabial affricate | pronounced as /[pʙ̥]/ | Not attested in any natural language. | Voiced trilled bilabial affricate | pronounced as /[bʙ]/ | Kele and Avava. Reported only in an allophone of [mb] before [o] or [u]. | |
| Voiceless trilled alveolar affricate | pronounced as /[tr̥]/ | Ngkoth. | Voiced trilled alveolar affricate | pronounced as /[dr]/ | Nias. Fijian and Avava also have this sound after [n]. | |
| Voiceless epiglottal affricate | pronounced as /[ʡʜ]/ | Hydaburg Haida. | Voiced epiglottal affricate | pronounced as /[ʡʢ]/ | Hydaburg Haida. Cognate to Southern Haida pronounced as /[ɢ]/, Masset Haida pronounced as /[ʕ]/.[9] |
Pirahã and Wari' have a dental stop with bilabial trilled release pronounced as /[t̪ʙ̥]/.
Although most affricates are homorganic, Navajo and Chiricahua Apache have a heterorganic alveolar-velar affricate pronounced as /[tx]/ (Hoijer & Opler 1938, Young & Morgan 1987, Ladefoged & Maddeison 1996, McDonough 2003, McDonough & Wood 2008, Iskarous, et al. 2012). Wari' and Pirahã have a voiceless dental bilabially trilled affricate [t̪ʙ̥] (see
The coronal and dorsal places of articulation attested as ejectives as well: pronounced as /[tθʼ, tsʼ, tɬʼ, tʃʼ, tɕʼ, tʂʼ, cʼ, kxʼ, kʼ, qχʼ]/. Several Khoisan languages such as Taa are reported to have voiced ejective affricates, but these are actually pre-voiced: pronounced as /[dtsʼ, dtʃʼ]/. Affricates are also commonly aspirated: pronounced as /[ɱp̪fʰ, tθʰ, tsʰ, tɬʰ, tʃʰ, tɕʰ, tʂʰ]/, murmured: pronounced as /[ɱb̪vʱ, dðʱ, dzʱ, dɮʱ, dʒʱ, dʑʱ, dʐʱ]/, and prenasalized: pronounced as /[ⁿdz, ⁿtsʰ, ᶯɖʐ, ᶯʈʂʰ]/ (as in Hmong). Labialized, palatalized, velarized, and pharyngealized affricates are also common. Affricates may also have phonemic length, that is, affected by a chroneme, as in Italian and Karelian.
In phonology, affricates tend to behave similarly to stops, taking part in phonological patterns that fricatives do not. analyzes phonetic affricates as phonological stops. A sibilant or lateral (and presumably trilled) stop can be realized phonetically only as an affricate and so might be analyzed phonemically as a sibilant or lateral stop. In that analysis, affricates other than sibilants and laterals are a phonetic mechanism for distinguishing stops at similar places of articulation (like more than one labial, coronal, or dorsal place). For example, Chipewyan has laminal dental pronounced as /[t̪͡θ]/ vs. apical alveolar pronounced as /[t]/; other languages may contrast velar pronounced as /[k]/ with palatal pronounced as /[c͡ç]/ and uvular pronounced as /[q͡χ]/.Affricates may also be a strategy to increase the phonetic contrast between aspirated or ejective and tenuis consonants.
According to, 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 pronounced as //t̪// and pronounced as //t̪θ// or pronounced as //k// and pronounced as //kx//.
In feature-based phonology, affricates are distinguished from stops by the feature [+delayed release].[10]
Affrication (sometimes called affricatization) is a sound change by which a consonant, usually a stop or fricative, changes into an affricate. Examples include:
In rare instances, a fricative–stop contour may occur. This is the case in dialects of Scottish Gaelic that have velar frication pronounced as /[ˣ]/ where other dialects have pre-aspiration. For example, in the Harris dialect there is Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: seachd pronounced as /[ʃaˣkʰ]/ 'seven' and Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: ochd pronounced as /[ɔˣkʰ]/ 'eight' (or pronounced as /[ʃax͜kʰ]/, pronounced as /[ɔx͜kʰ]/).[13] These have been proposed to be called suffricates. Awngi has 2 suffricates /s͡t/ and /ʃ͡t/ according to some analyses.[14]
pronounced as /navigation/