Dictionary Definition
affricate n : a composite speech sound consisting
of a stop and a fricative articulated at the same point (as `ch' in
`chair' and `j' in `joy') [syn: affricate
consonant, affricative]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
- a Canada /æfrIkIt/
Noun
Translations
Extensive Definition
Affricate consonants begin as stops
(most often an alveolar,
such as [t] or [d]) but release as a fricative
(such as [s] or [z] or occasionally into a fricative trill)
rather than directly into the following vowel.
Samples
The English
sounds spelled "ch" and "j" (transcribed [tʃ] and [dʒ] in
IPA), German
and Italian
z [ts] and Italian
z [dz] 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 [dʒ], voiced
affricates are relatively uncommon. For several places of
articulation they aren't attested at all.
Much less common are e.g. labiodental affricates, such
as [p͡f] in German, or velar
affricates, such as [k͡x] in Tswana
(written kg) or High Alemannic Swiss German
dialects (depending on the dialect also uvular [q͡χ]). Worldwide, only a few languages have
affricates in these positions, even though the corresponding
stop
consonants are virtually universal. Also less common are
alveolar affricates where the fricative is lateral,
such as the [tɬ] sound found in Nahuatl and
Totonac.
Many Athabaskan
languages (such as Dene
Suline and Navajo)
have series of coronal affricates which may be unaspirated,
aspirated, or ejective in addition to being interdental/dental,
alveolar, postalveolar, or lateral, i.e. [t̪͡θ], [t̪͡θʰ],
[t̪͡θ’], [ts],
[tsʰ], [ts’],
[tʃ], [tʃʰ],
[tʃ’], [tɬ],
[tɬʰ], and [tɬ’]. Affricates may also be contrasted by
palatalization, as in the Erzya
language, where voiceless alveolar, postalveolar and palatal
affricates are contrasted. Affricates may also have phonemic
length, that is, affected by a chroneme, as in Karelian.
Notation
Affricates are often represented by the two sounds they consist of (e.g. [pf], [kx]). However, single signs for the affricates may be desirable, in order to stress that they function as unitary speech segments (i.e. as phonemes). In this case, the IPA recommends joining the two elements of the affricate by a tie bar (e.g. [p͡f], [k͡x]). Ligatures are available in Unicode for the six common affricates [ʦ], [ʣ], [ʧ], [ʤ], [ʨ], and [ʥ].Another method is to indicate the release of the
affricate with a superscript: [tˢ],
[kˣ]. This is derived from the IPA
convention of indicating other releases with a superscript.
In other phonetic transcription systems, such as
the
Americanist system, the affricates [ts], [dz], [tʃ], [dʒ], [tɬ], and [dɮ] are
represented as or ; , , or (older) }}; and are
normally used for the stop portion of the affricate regardless of
place. For example,