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. English has two affricate phonemes, and , generally spelled ch and j, respectively.
Examples
The English sounds spelled "ch" and "j" (broadly transcribed as and in the IPA), German and Italian z and Italian z 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 are relatively uncommon. For several places of articulation they are not attested at all.
Much less common are labiodental affricates, such as in German, Kinyarwanda and Izi, or velar affricates, such as 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, and , are common or virtually universal. Also less common are alveolar affricates where the fricative release is lateral, such as the 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: , , , , , , , , , , , and .
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. Thus:
:
or
:.
A less common notation indicates the release of the affricate with a superscript:
:
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:
:.
Approved for Unicode 18 in 2026, per request from the IPA, are the remaining coronal affricates:
: for .
Ligatures for the non-coronal affricates 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 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 from the similar affricate in ketchup .
In other phonetic transcription systems, such as the Americanist system, affricates may be transcribed with single letters. The affricate may be transcribed as or ; as , or ; as or ; as , or ; as ; and as .
Single letters may also be used with phonemic transcription in IPA: and are sometimes transcribed with the symbols for the palatal stops, and , for example in the IPA Handbook.
Affricates vs. stop–fricative sequences
In some languages, affricates contrast phonemically with stop–fricative sequences:
- Polish affricate in czysta 'clean (f.)' versus stop–fricative in trzysta 'three hundred'; or affricate in dżem 'jam' versus stop–fricative in drzem 'snooze (2nd person singular imperative)';
- Klallam affricate in k'ʷə́nc 'look at me' versus stop–fricative 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; 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, and (nuts, nods) are considered phonemically stop–fricative sequences. They often <!-- some exceptions are tsetse, chintz, waltz, adz, etc. --> contain a morpheme boundary (for example, nuts = nut + s). The English affricate phonemes and do not contain morpheme boundaries.
The phonemic distinction in English between the affricate and the stop–fricative sequence (found across syllable boundaries) can be observed by minimal pairs such as the following:
- worst shin →
- worse chin →
The in 'worst shin' can be elided: .
Stop–fricatives can be distinguished acoustically from affricates by the rise time of the frication noise, which is shorter for affricates.
Geminate affricates
When affricates are geminated, it is the duration of the plosive closure that is lengthened, not that of the frication. For example, is pronounced , not *. Polish has been reported to favour phonological gemination through rearticulation of the affricate, rather than the common method of lengthening the plosive closure.
List of affricates
In the case of coronals, the symbols are normally used for the stop portion of the affricate regardless of place. For example, is commonly seen for , for and for .
The exemplar languages are ones that have been reported to have these sounds, but in several cases, they may need confirmation.
Sibilant affricates
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Voiceless !! Languages !! Voiced !! Languages
|-
| Voiceless alveolar affricate <div style="width:50px;"></div> || Albanian c<br>Georgian ც<br>German z, tz, c<br>Japanese つ/ツ <br>Kʼicheʼ<br>Mandarin z (pinyin)<br>Italian z<br>Pashto
| Voiced alveolar affricate <div style="width:50px;"></div>|| Albanian x<br>Georgian ძ<br>Japanese (some dialects)<br>Italian z<br>Pashto
|-
| Voiceless dental sibilant affricate <div style="width:50px;"></div> || Hungarian c<br>Macedonian ц<br>Serbo-Croatian c/ц<br>Polish c
| Voiced dental sibilant affricate <div style="width:50px;"></div> || Hungarian dz<br>Macedonian ѕ<br>Bulgarian дз<br>Polish dz
|-
| Voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate <div style="width:50px;"></div> || Japanese ち/チ <br>Mandarin j (pinyin)<br>Polish ć, ci<br>Serbo-Croatian ć/ћ<br>Thai จ<br>Vietnamese ch
| Voiced alveolo-palatal affricate <div style="width:50px;"></div> || Japanese じ/ジ, ぢ/ヂ <br>Polish dź, dzi<br>Serbo-Croatian đ/ђ<br>Korean ㅈ
|-
| Voiceless palato-alveolar affricate <div style="width:50px;"></div> || Albanian ç<br>English ch, tch<br>Georgian ჩ<br>German tsch<br>Hungarian cs<br>Indonesian c<br>Italian ci, ce<br>Latvian č<br>Lithuanian č<br>Maltese ċ<br>Persian <br>Romanian ci, ce<br>Spanish ch<br>Turkish ç<br>Walloon tch<br>
| Voiced palato-alveolar affricate <div style="width:50px;"></div> ||Albanian xh<br>Arabic <br>English j, g<br>Georgian ჯ<br>Hungarian dzs<br>Indonesian j<br>Italian gi, ge<br>Latvian dž<br>Lithuanian dž<br>Maltese ġ<br>Romanian gi, ge<br>Turkish c<br>Walloon dj<br>
|-
| Voiceless retroflex affricate <div style="width:50px;"></div> || Mandarin zh (pinyin)<br>Polish cz<br>Serbo-Croatian č/ч<br>Slovak č<br>Vietnamese tr
| Voiced retroflex affricate <div style="width:50px;"></div> || Polish dż<br>Serbo-Croatian dž/џ<br>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 has only one type of affricate, it is usually a sibilant; this is the case in e.g. Arabic (), most dialects of Spanish (), and Thai ().
Non-sibilant affricates
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Sound (voiceless) !! IPA !! Languages !! Sound (voiced) !! IPA !! Languages
|-
| Voiceless bilabial affricate || || Present allophonically in Kaingang and Taos. Not reported as a phoneme in any natural language. || Voiced bilabial affricate || ||Allophonic in Banjun and Shipibo
|-
| Voiceless bilabial-labiodental affricate || || German, Teke || Voiced bilabial-labiodental affricate || || Teke
|-
| Voiceless labiodental affricate || || XiNkuna Tsonga
| Voiced labiodental affricate || || XiNkuna Tsonga
|-
| Voiceless dental non-sibilant affricate || || New York English, Luo, Dene Suline, Cun, some varieties of Venetian and other North Italian dialects
| Voiced dental non-sibilant affricate || || New York, Dublin, and Maori English, Dene Suline
|-
| Voiceless retroflex non-sibilant affricate || || Mapudungun , Malagasy
| Voiced retroflex non-sibilant affricate || || Malagasy
|-
| Voiceless palatal affricate || || Skolt Sami (younger speakers), Hungarian (casual speech), Albanian (transcribed as [c]), allophonically in Kaingang
| Voiced palatal affricate || || Skolt Sami (younger speakers), Hungarian (casual speech), Albanian (transcribed as [ɟ]), some Spanish dialects. Not reported to contrast with a voiced palatal plosive
|-
| Voiceless velar affricate || || Tswana, High Alemannic German || Voiced velar affricate || || rowspan=1 | Allophonic in some English English
|-
| Voiceless uvular affricate || || Nez Percé, Wolof, Bats, Kabardian, Avar, Tsez. Not reported to contrast with a voiceless uvular plosive in natural languages. || Voiced uvular affricate || || Reported from the Raivavae dialect of Austral and Ekagi with a velar lateral allophone before front vowels.
|-
| Voiceless pharyngeal affricate || || Haida. Not reported to contrast with an epiglottal stop || Voiced pharyngeal affricate || || Somali. Pronounced or sometimes with weak epiglottal trilling initially, otherwise realized as
|-
| Voiceless glottal affricate || || Allophonic in Received Pronunciation || Voiced glottal affricate ||
|| Not attested in any natural language
|}
Lateral affricates
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Sound (voiceless) !! IPA !! Languages !! Sound (voiced) !! IPA !! Languages
|-
| Voiceless alveolar lateral affricate || || Cherokee, Nahuatl, Navajo, Tswana, etc.
| Voiced alveolar lateral affricate || || Gwich'in, Sandawe.
|-
| Voiceless retroflex lateral affricate || || Bhadrawahi, apical post-alveolar. Realization of phonemic in Kamkata-vari and Kamvari.
| Voiced retroflex lateral affricate || || Bhadrawahi, apical post-alveolar. Realization of phonemic in Kamkata-vari and Kamviri.
|-
| Voiceless palatal lateral affricate || || as ejective in Dahalo; in free variation with in Hadza.
| Voiced palatal lateral affricate || || Allophonic in Sandawe.
|-
| Voiceless velar lateral affricate || || as a prevelar in Archi and as an ejective in Zulu, also exist in the Laghuu language.
| Voiced velar lateral affricate || || Laghuu.
|}
Trilled affricates
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Sound (voiceless) !! IPA !! Languages !! Sound (voiced) !! IPA !! Languages
|-
| Voiceless trilled bilabial affricate || || Not attested in any natural language. || Voiced trilled bilabial affricate || || Kele and Avava. Reported only in an allophone of [mb] before [o] or [u].
|-
| Voiceless trilled alveolar affricate || || Ngkoth.
| Voiced trilled alveolar affricate || || Nias. Fijian and Avava also have this sound after [n].
|-
| Voiceless epiglottal affricate|| || Hydaburg Haida. || Voiced epiglottal affricate|| || Hydaburg Haida. Cognate to Southern Haida , Masset Haida .
|}
Itene, Oro Win, Sangtam, and Wari' have a dental stop with bilabial trilled release .
Heterorganic affricates
Although most affricates are homorganic, Navajo and Chiricahua Apache have a heterorganic alveolar-velar affricate . Itene, Oro Win, Sangtam, and Wari' have a voiceless dental bilabially trilled affricate (see Trilled affricate). Blackfoot has and . Other heterorganic affricates are reported for Northern Sotho and other Bantu languages such as Phuthi, which has alveolar–labiodental affricates and , and Sesotho, which has bilabial–palatoalveolar affricates and . Djeoromitxi has and .
Phonation, coarticulation and other variants
The coronal and dorsal places of articulation attested as ejectives as well: . Several Khoisan languages such as Taa are reported to have voiced ejective affricates, but these are actually pre-voiced: . Affricates are also commonly aspirated: , murmured: , and prenasalized: (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.
Phonological representation
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 vs. apical alveolar ; other languages may contrast velar with palatal and uvular .
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 and or and .
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 > Modern English , as in chin (cf. : Anglo-Frisian palatalization)
- Proto-Semitic > Standard Arabic in all positions, as in () (cf. Aramaic: גמלא (gamlā'), (), and ()).
- Early Modern English > (yod-coalescence)
- > in the High German consonant shift and partially also in Cockney and Scouse
- > before respectively in 16th-century Japanese
- > word-initially in Udmurt
- Polish >
- Brazilian Portuguese > before in most regions
- Quebec French and are affricated to and before , , , 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 where other dialects have pre-aspiration. For example, in the Harris dialect there is 'seven' and 'eight' (or , ). 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 and according to some analyses.
See also
- Apical consonant
- Hush consonant
- Laminal consonant
- Index of phonetics articles
Notes
References
Sources
External links
- Affricates in English