Affricate

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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 sequence. English has two affricate phonemes, /t͡ʃ/ and /d͡ʒ/, generally spelled ch and j, respectively.

Examples

The English sounds spelled "ch" and "j" (broadly transcribed as [t͡ʃ] and [d͡ʒ] in the IPA), German and Italian z [t͡s] and Italian z [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 [d͡ʒ] 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, Kinyarwanda and Izi, or velar affricates, such 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, [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 whose release may be dental, alveolar, postalveolar, or lateral: [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 clarify that these form a single consonant, a tie bar may be 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. For example, in Thus:

⟨p͡f b͡v, p͡ɸ b͡β, t͡s d͡z, t͡ɬ d͡ɮ, t͡ʃ d͡ʒ, t͡ᶘ d͡ᶚ, t͡ɕ d͡ʑ, ʈ͡ʂ ɖ͡ʐ , k͡x ɡ͡ɣ, q͡χ ɢ͡ʁ⟩

or

⟨p͜f b͜v, p͜ɸ b͜β, t͜s d͜z, t͜ɬ d͜ɮ, t͜ʃ d͜ʒ, t͜ɕ d͜ʑ, ʈ͜ʂ ɖ͜ʐ , k͜x ɡ͜ɣ, q͜χ ɢ͜ʁ⟩.

A less common notation indicates the release of the affricate with a superscript:

⟨pᶠ bᵛ, pᶲ bᵝ, tˢ dᶻ, t𐞛 d𐞞, tᶴ dᶾ, t𝿣 d𝿧, tᶝ dᶽ, tᶳ dᶼ, kˣ ɡˠ, qᵡ ɢʶ⟩

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:

⟨ʦ ʣ, ʧ ʤ, 𝼜 𝼙, ʨ ʥ, ꭧ ꭦ⟩.

The remaining coronal affricates were added to Unicode 18.0 in 2026:

⟨𝼤 𝼟, 𝼢 𝼠, 𝼣 𝼡, 𝼬 𝼫⟩ for [t͜θ] [d͜ð], [t͜ɬ] [d͡ɮ], [t͡ꞎ] [d͡𝼅], [t͜ʆ] [d͡ʓ].

Ligatures ⟨, , , /, ⟩ for the non-coronal affricates [pɸ] [bβ], [pf] [bv], [cç] [ɟʝ], [kx] [ɡɣ]/[gɣ], [qχ] [ɢʁ] have also been used.

Any of these notations can be used to distinguish an affricate from a sequence of plosive plus fricative, which is contrastive in languages such as Polish. However, in languages where there is no such distinction within a syllable, such as English or Turkish, a simple sequence of letters such as ⟨tʃ⟩ is commonly used, with no overt indication that they form an affricate. In such cases the syllable boundary may be written to distinguish the plosive-fricative sequence in petshop /ˈpɛt.ʃɒp/ from the similar affricate in ketchup /ˈkɛtʃʌp/.

In other phonetic transcription systems, such as the Americanist system, affricates may be transcribed with single letters. The affricate [t͜s] may be transcribed as ⟨c⟩ or ⟨ȼ⟩; [d͜z] as ⟨ʒ⟩, ⟨ƶ⟩ or ⟨j⟩; [t͜ʃ] as ⟨c⟩ or ⟨č⟩; [d͡ʒ] as ⟨ǰ⟩, ⟨ǧ⟩ or ⟨ǯ⟩; [t͜ɬ] as ⟨ƛ⟩; and [d͡ɮ] as ⟨λ⟩.

Single letters may also be used with phonemic transcription in IPA: [tʃ] and [dʒ] are sometimes transcribed with the symbols for the palatal stops, ⟨c⟩ and ⟨ɟ⟩, for example in the IPA Handbook.

Contrast with stop–fricative sequences

In some languages, affricates contrast phonemically with stop–fricative sequences at the same place of articulation:

• Polish affricate /t͡ʂ/ in czysta 'clean (f.)' versus stop–fricative /tʂ/ in trzysta 'three hundred'; or affricate /d͡ʐ/ in dżem 'jam' versus stop–fricative /dʐ/ in drzem 'snooze (2nd person singular imperative)';
• Klallam affricate /t͡s/ in k'ʷə́nc 'look at me' versus stop–fricative /ts/ in k'ʷə́nts 'he looks at it'.

The exact phonetic difference varies between languages. In stop–fricative sequences, the stop has a release burst before the fricative starts (which in the case of Klallam is aspirated [tʰs]), but in affricates, the fricative element is the release. Stop–fricatives can be distinguished acoustically from affricates by the rise time of the frication noise, which is shorter for affricates.^{[page needed][page needed][page needed]}

In English, /ts/ and /dz/ (nuts, nods) are stop–fricative sequences. They most often contain a morpheme boundary (for example, nuts = nut + s), though there are exceptions such as waltz and adze. The affricates /t͡ʃ/ and /d͡ʒ/, on the other hand, do not allow morpheme boundaries. The phonemic distinction in English between the affricate /t͡ʃ/ and the stop–fricative sequence /t.ʃ/ (found across syllable boundaries) can be observed by minimal pairs such as the following:

• worst ship /ˈwɜːstˈʃɪp/ → [ˌwɜːst.ˈʃɪp]
• worse chip /ˈwɜːsˈt͡ʃɪp/ → [ˌwɜːs.ˈt͡ʃʰɪp]

The /t/ in 'worst ship' may be elided: [wɜːsʃɪp], but that of chip is not.

Geminate affricates

When affricates are geminated, it is usually the duration of the plosive closure that is lengthened, not that of the frication. For example, in most languages /t͜sː/ is pronounced [tːs], not *[tsː]. This is the case with Italian and Japanese. However, Polish has been reported to be more variable, with phonological gemination through rearticulation of the affricate, lengthening of the plosive closure or – less commonly – lengthening of the fricative release, so that /t͜sː/ may be realized as [tsts], [tːs] or [tsː].

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⟩, ⟨t͡ʃ⟩ for ⟨t̠͡ʃ⟩ and ⟨t͡θ⟩ for ⟨t̪͡θ⟩.

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

Phonological representation

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In phonology, affricates tend to behave similarly to plosives, taking part in phonological patterns that fricatives do not, e.g. phonemic contrasts:

• Navajo /t ts tʰ tsʰ tʼ tsʼ/ vs. /s z/ (*d *dz *sʰ *sʼ)
• Sanskrit /t tɕ tʰ tɕʰ d dʑ dʱ dʑʱ/ vs. /ɕ/ (*ɕʰ *ʑ *ʑʱ)

There are exceptions, however:

• Basque /t̻ d̻/ vs. /t̻s̻ s̻ t̺s̺ s̺/ (*t̺ *d̺ *dz *z)
• Derung /t s d z/ vs. /ts/ (*dz)
• Djeoromitxí /p/ vs. /ps bz/ (*b *s *z)

Kehrein (2002) 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 [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 (2002), 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/.

In feature-based phonology, affricates are distinguished from stops by the feature [+delayed release].

Affrication

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

• Proto-Germanic /k/ > Modern English /t͡ʃ/, as in chin (cf. German: Kinn: Anglo-Frisian palatalization)
• Proto-Semitic /ɡ/ > Standard Arabic /d͡ʒ/ in all positions, as in جمل /d͡ʒamal/ (jamal) 'camel' (cf. Aramaic: גמלא (gamlā'), Amharic: ግመል (gəmäl), and Hebrew: גמל (gamal)).
• Early Modern English /tj, dj/ > /t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ/ (yod-coalescence)
• /p, t, k/ > /pf, t͡s, kx/ in the High German consonant shift and partially also in Cockney and Scouse
• [t] > [t͡s, t͡ʃ] before [ɯᵝ, i] respectively in 16th-century Japanese
• [r] > [d͡ʒ, d͡ʑ] word-initially in Udmurt
• Polish /tʲ, dʲ/ > /t͡ɕ, d͡ʑ/
• Brazilian Portuguese /t, d/ > [t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ] before /i, ĩ/ in most regions
• Quebec French /t, d/ > [t͡s, d͡z] before /i, y, j, ɥ/ in most regions

Pre-affrication

In rare instances, a fricative–stop contour may occur. This is the case in dialects of Scottish Gaelic that have velar frication [ˣ] where other dialects have pre-aspiration. For example, in the Harris dialect there is seachd [ʃaˣkʰ] 'seven' and ochd [ɔˣkʰ] 'eight' (or [ʃax͜kʰ], [ɔx͜kʰ]). Richard Wiese argues this is the case for word-initial fricative-plosive sequences in German, and coined the term suffricate for such contours. Awngi has 2 suffricates /s͡t/ and /ʃ͡t/ according to some analyses.

See also

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

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

• Affricates in English