Anaffricate is aconsonant that begins as astop and releases as africative, generally with the sameplace of articulation (most oftencoronal). It is often difficult to decide if a stop and fricative form a singlephoneme or a consonant pair.[1] English has two affricate phonemes,/t͡ʃ/ and/d͡ʒ/, generally spelledch andj, respectively.
TheEnglish sounds spelled "ch" and "j" (broadly transcribed as[t͡ʃ] and[d͡ʒ] in theIPA),German andItalianz[t͡s] andItalianz[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 inPolish andChinese. However, voiced affricates other than[d͡ʒ] are relatively uncommon. For several places of articulation they are not attested at all.
Much less common arelabiodental affricates, such as[p͡f] inGerman,Kinyarwanda andIzi, orvelar affricates, such as[k͡x] inTswana (writtenkg) or in High AlemannicSwiss German dialects. Worldwide, relatively few languages have affricates in these positions even though the correspondingstop consonants,[p] and[k], are common or virtually universal. Also less common are alveolar affricates where the fricative release islateral, such as the[t͡ɬ] sound found inNahuatl andNavajo. Some otherAthabaskan languages, such asDene 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].
Affricates are transcribed in theInternational 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 are parts of a single consonant, atie 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.[2] Thus:
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 inUnicode for the sibilant affricates, which remain in common use:
Ligatures ⟨,,,/,⟩ for the non-coronal affricates[pɸ][bβ],[pf][bv],[cç][ɟʝ],[kx][ɡɣ]/[gɣ],[qχ][ɢʁ] have also been used.[4] Similar affricate ligatures can be found inLuciano Canepari's canIPA alphabet.
Any of these notations can be used to distinguish an affricate from a sequence of a plosive plus a 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 inpetshop/ˈpɛt.ʃɒp/ from the similar affricate inketchup/ˈkɛtʃʌp/.
In other phonetic transcription systems, such as theAmericanist 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 IPAHandbook.
In some languages, affricates contrast phonemically with stop–fricative sequences:
Polish affricate/t͡ʂ/ inczysta 'clean(f.)' versus stop–fricative/tʂ/ intrzysta 'three hundred';[5] or affricate/ɖ͡ʐ/ indżem 'jam' versus stop–fricative/ɖʐ/ indrzem 'snooze (2nd person singular imperative)';
Klallam affricate/t͡sʰ/ ink'ʷə́nc 'look at me' versus stop–fricative/tʰs/ ink'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 elementis the release. Phonologically, stop–fricative sequences may have asyllable boundary between the two segments, but not necessarily.
In English,/ts/ and/dz/ (nuts,nods) are considered phonemically stop–fricative sequences. They often contain amorpheme boundary (for example,nuts =nut +s). The English affricate phonemes/t͡ʃ/ and/d͡ʒ/ do not contain 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 shin/wɜː(ɹ)st.ʃɪn/ →[wɜː(ɹ)stʃɪn]
worse chin/wɜː(ɹ)s.t͡ʃɪn/ →[wɜː(ɹ)st͡ʃʰɪn]
The/t/ in 'worst shin' can be elided:[wɜː(ɹ)sʃɪn].
Stop–fricatives can be distinguishedacoustically from affricates by therise time of the frication noise, which is shorter for affricates.[6][7][8]
When affricates aregeminated, it is the duration of the plosive closure that is lengthened, not that of the frication. For example,/t͜sː/ is pronounced[tːs], not *[tsː].[9][10]
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.
TheNorthwest Caucasian languagesAbkhaz andUbykh both contrast sibilant affricates at four places of articulation: alveolar, postalveolar, alveolo-palatal and retroflex. They also distinguish voiceless, voiced, andejective 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 ([d̠ʒ]), most dialects ofSpanish ([t̠ʃ]), andThai ([tɕ]).
Skolt Sami (younger speakers), Hungarian (casual speech),Albanian (transcribed as [ɟ]), someSpanish dialects. Not reported to contrast with avoiced palatal plosive[ɟ]
The coronal and dorsal places of articulation attested asejectives as well:[tθʼ,tsʼ,tɬʼ,tʃʼ,tɕʼ,tʂʼ,c𝼆ʼ,kxʼ,k𝼄ʼ,qχʼ]. Several Khoisan languages such asTaa are reported to have voiced ejective affricates, but these are actuallypre-voiced:[dtsʼ,dtʃʼ]. Affricates are also commonlyaspirated:[ɱp̪fʰ,tθʰ,tsʰ,tɬʰ,tʃʰ,tɕʰ,tʂʰ],murmured:[ɱb̪vʱ,dðʱ,dzʱ,dɮʱ,dʒʱ,dʑʱ,dʐʱ], andprenasalized:[ⁿdz,ⁿtsʰ,ᶯɖʐ,ᶯʈʂʰ] (as inHmong).Labialized,palatalized,velarized, andpharyngealized affricates are also common. Affricates may also have phonemic length, that is, affected by achroneme, as inItalian andKarelian.
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In phonology, affricates tend to behave similarly to stops, taking part in phonological patterns that fricatives do not.Kehrein (2002) analyzes phonetic affricates as phonological stops.[33] 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 toKehrein (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/.
Affrication (sometimes calledaffricatization) is asound change by which a consonant, usually astop orfricative, changes into an affricate. Examples include:
Proto-Semitic/ɡ/ > Standard Arabic/d͡ʒ/ in all positions, as inجمل/d͡ʒamal/ (jamal)'camel' (cf.Aramaic: גמלא (gamlā'),Amharic:ግመል (gəmäl), andHebrew:גמל (gamal)).
In rare instances, a fricative–stop contour may occur. This is the case in dialects ofScottish Gaelic that have velar frication[ˣ] where other dialects havepre-aspiration. For example, in theHarris dialect there isseachd[ʃaˣkʰ] 'seven' andochd[ɔˣkʰ] 'eight' (or[ʃax͜kʰ],[ɔx͜kʰ]).[37]Richard Wiese argues this is the case for word-initial fricative-plosive sequences in German, and coined the termsuffricate for such contours.[38]Awngi has 2 suffricates/s͡t/ and/ʃ͡t/ according to some analyses.[39]
^Csúcs, Sándor (2005).Die Rekonstruktion der permischen Grundsprache. Bibliotheca Uralica (in German). Vol. 13. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó. p. 139.ISBN963-05-8184-1.
^Laver, John (1994).Principles of Phonetics. Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 374.ISBN978-0-521-45031-7.
^Harry van der Hulst & Nancy Ritter (2012: 175)The Syllable: Views and Facts. De Gruyter.
^Joswig, Andreas (2010).The Phonology of Awngi(PDF). SIL Electronic Working Papers. SIL International.
Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M. (2003) [First published 1981],The Phonetics of English and Dutch (5th ed.), Leiden: Brill Publishers,ISBN9004103406
Frantz, Donald G. (1999)."The Sounds of Blackfoot".Lethbridge, Alberta, University of Lethbridge. Archived fromthe original on 2007-05-23. Retrieved2007-04-11.
Hoijer, Harry; Opler, Morris E. (1938).Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache texts. The University of Chicago publications in anthropology; Linguistic series. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.ISBN9780598942005.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
Kehrein, Wolfgang (2002).Phonological representation and phonetic phasing: affricates and laryngeals. Tübingen: De Gruyter.doi:10.1515/9783110911633.ISBN9783484304666.
Ladefoged, P. (2006).A Course in Phonetics (5th ed.). Wadsworth.ISBN978-1413006889.
Valenzuela, Pilar M.; Márquez Pinedo, Luis; Maddieson, Ian (2001),"Shipibo",Journal of the International Phonetic Association,31 (2):281–285,doi:10.1017/S0025100301002109,archived from the original on 2021-12-02, retrieved2021-07-17
Young, R.; Morgan, W. (1987).The Navajo Language. University of New Mexico Press.ISBN9780826310149.
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