Voiceless postalveolar affricate

The voiceless palato-alveolar sibilant affricate or voiceless domed postalveolar sibilant affricate is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The sound is transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet with t͡ʃ , t͜ʃ  tʃ  (formerly the ligature ʧ ), or, in broad transcription, c. The alternative commonly used in American tradition is ⟨č⟩. It is familiar to English speakers as the "ch" sound in "chip".

Voiceless postalveolar affricate
t̠ʃ
IPA Number103 134
Audio sample
Encoding
Entity (decimal)t​͡​ʃ
Unicode (hex)U+0074 U+0361 U+0283
X-SAMPAtS or t_rS

Historically, this sound often derives from a former voiceless velar stop /k/ (as in English church; also in Gulf Arabic, Slavic languages, Indo-Iranian languages and Romance languages), or a voiceless dental stop /t/ by way of palatalization, especially next to a front vowel (as in English nature; also in Amharic, Portuguese, some accents of Egyptian, etc.).

Features

Features of the voiceless domed postalveolar affricate:

Occurrence

LanguageWordIPAMeaningNotes
Adygheчэмы/čamë/چەمہـ'cow'Some dialects contrast labialized and non-labialized forms.
Albaniançelur[t͡ʃɛluɾ]'opened'
AleutAtkan dialectchamĝul[t͡ʃɑmʁul]'to wash'
Amharicአንቺ/anite[ant͡ʃi]'you'
Arabic[1]Central Palestinianمكتبة (Normally unwritten)/mačtabe[ˈmat͡ʃt̪abe]'library'Corresponds to [k] in Standard Arabic and other varieties. See Arabic phonology
Iraqiچتاب/čitaab[t͡ʃɪˈt̪ɑːb]'book'
Jordanianكتاب (Normally unwritten)/čitaab[t͡ʃɪˈt̪aːb]
Aragonesechuego[ˈt͡ʃueɣo]'game'
ArmenianEastern[2]ճնճղուկ/čënčquk'sparrow'
Assyrianܟ̰ܝܡܐ čyama[t͡ʃˤjɑmɑ]'to shut'Found in native terminology. Widespread usage in all dialect varieties. Developed from an original /tˤ/.
AsturianChipre[ˈt͡ʃipɾe]'Cyprus'Mostly found in loanwords, if possible, usually replaced by x [ʃ].
AzerbaijaniƏkinçi/اکینچی[æcint͡ʃʰi]'the ploughman'
Bengaliশমা/čošma[t͡ʃɔʃma]'spectacles'Contrasts with aspirated form. See Bengali phonology
Basquetxalupa[t͡ʃalupa]'boat'
Bulgarianчучулига/čučuliga[t͡ʃʊt͡ʃuˈliɡɐ]'lark'See Bulgarian phonology
Catalancotxe[ˈkɔ.t͡ʃə]'car'See Catalan phonology.
Central Alaskan Yup'iknacaq[ˈnat͡ʃaq]'parka hood'
Choctawhakchioma[hakt͡ʃioma]'tobacco'
CopticBohairic dialectϭⲟϩ/čoh[t͡ʃʰɔh]'touch'
Czechmorče[ˈmo̞rt͡ʃɛ]'guinea pig'See Czech phonology
Dhivehiޗަކަސް / çakas[t͡ʃakas]'mud'Relatively rare, usually occurs in loanwords / onomatoepic words
DutchTjongejone[t͡ʃɔŋəjɔŋə]'jeez'An exclamation of (mild) annoyance, surprise, wonder or amazement.[3]

Pronunciation is region dependent.

Englishbeach[biːt͡ʃ]'beach'Slightly labialized [tʃʷ]. See English phonology
Esperantoĉar[t͡ʃar]'because'See Esperanto phonology
Estonianello[ˈtʃelˑo]'cello'Rare, occurs only in loanwords. see Estonian phonology
Faroesegera[t͡ʃeːɹa]'to do'Contrasts with aspirated form. See Faroese phonology
Finnishekki[ˈt̪ʃe̞kːi]'Czechia'Rare, occurs only in loanwords. See Finnish phonology
FrenchStandardcaoutchouc[kaut͡ʃu]'rubber'Relatively rare; occurs mostly in loanwords. See French phonology
Acadiantiens[t͡ʃɛ̃]'(I/you) keep'Allophone of /k/ and /tj/ before a front vowel.
Galiciancheo[ˈt͡ʃeo]'full'Galician-Portuguese /t͡ʃ/ is conserved in Galician and merged with /ʃ/ in most Portuguese dialects. See Galician phonology
Georgian[4]იხი/čixi[t͡ʃixi]'impasse'
GermanStandard[5]Tschüss[t͡ʃʏs]'bye'Laminal or apico-laminal and strongly labialized.[5] See Standard German phonology
GreekCypriotτσ̌άι/ćai[t͡ʃɑːiː]'tea'
Hausaciwo/ثِيوُاْ[t͡ʃíː.wòː]'disease, pain'
Hebrewתשובה/tšuva[t͡ʃuˈva]'answer'See Modern Hebrew phonology
HindustaniHindiचा/čay[t͡ʃɑːj]'tea'Contrasts with aspirated form. See Hindustani phonology
Urduچائے/čay
Haitian Creolematch[mat͡ʃ]'sports match'
Hungariangyümölcs[ˈɟymølt͡ʃleː]'fruit juice'See Hungarian phonology
Italian[6]ciao[ˈt͡ʃaːo]'hi'See Italian phonology
Javanesecedhak/ꦕꦼꦣꦏ꧀/چۤڎَاك[t͡ʃəɖaʔ]'near'
KʼicheʼK'iche'[kʼiˈt͡ʃeʔ]'Kʼicheʼ''Contrasts with ejective form
Kabardianчэнж/çenj/چەنژ'shallow'
Kashubian[7]czësto[t͡ʃəstɔ]'cleanly'
Kurdishhirç/هرچ[hɪɾt͡ʃ]'bear'
Ladinokolcha/קולגﬞה[ˈkolt͡ʃa]'quilt'
Macedonianчека/čeka[t͡ʃɛka]'wait'See Macedonian phonology
MalayStandardcuci/چوچي[t͡ʃut͡ʃi]'to wash'See Malay phonology
IndonesianPalatal [c] according to some analyses. See Malay phonology
Maltesebliċ[blit͡ʃ]'bleach'
Manxçhiarn[ˈt͡ʃaːrn]'lord'
Marathiहा/čëha[t͡ʃəhaː]'tea'Contrasts with aspirated form. Allophone of /tɕ / and /ts/.See Marathi phonology
MongolianKhalkha dialectнаргиж/nargič
ᠨᠠᠷᠭᠢᠵ
[ˈnargit͡ʃ]'laugh'
Nahuatlāyōtōchtli[aːjoːˈtoːt͡ʃt͡ɬi]'armadillo'
NorwegianSome dialectskjøkken[t͡ʃøkːen]'kitchen'See Norwegian phonology
Nunggubuyu[8]jaro[t͡ʃaɾo]'needle'
Occitanchuc[ˈt͡ʃyk]'juice'See Occitan phonology
Odia/caka[t͡ʃɔkɔ]'wheel'Contrasts with aspirated form.
Persianچوب/чӯб/čub[t͡ʃʰuːb]'wood'See Persian phonology
PolishGmina Istebnaciemny[ˈt͡ʃɛmn̪ɘ]'dark'/ʈ͡ʂ/ and /t͡ɕ/ merge into [t͡ʃ] in these dialects. In standard Polish, /t͡ʃ/ is commonly used to transcribe what actually is a laminal voiceless retroflex affricate.
Lubawa dialect[9]
Malbork dialect[9]
Ostróda dialect[9]
Warmia dialect[9]
PortugueseMost northern and some central Portuguese dialectschamar[t͡ʃɐˈmaɾ]'to call'Archaic realization of etymological ⟨ch⟩. Its use is diminishing due to influence of the standard language, being replaced by [ʃ].
Most Brazilian dialects[10]presente[pɾe̞ˈzẽ̞t͡ʃi]'present'Allophone of /t/ before /i, ĩ/ (including when [i, ĩ, j] is not actually produced) and other instances of [i] (e.g. epenthesis), marginal sound otherwise. See Portuguese phonology
Most dialectstchau[ˈt͡ʃaw]'bye'In Standard European Portuguese it occurs only in recent loanwords.
Punjabiਚੌਲ/ چول/čol[t͡ʃɔːl]'rice'
Quechuachunka[t͡ʃʊŋka]'ten'
Romanićiriklo[t͡ʃiriˈklo]'bird'Contrasts with aspirated form.
Romaniancer[ˈt͡ʃe̞r]'sky'See Romanian phonology
Rotuman[11]joni[ˈt͡ʃɔni]'to flee'
Scottish Gaelicslàinte[ˈsl̪ˠaːnʲt͡ʃə]'health'Southern dialects only; standard pronunciation is [tʲ]. See Scottish Gaelic phonology
Serbo-CroatianSome speakersčokoláda чоколада[t͡ʃo̞ko̞ˈɫǎ̠ːd̪a̠]'chocolate'In varieties that do not distinguish /ʈ͡ʂ/ from /t͡ɕ/.
SilesianGmina Istebna[12]szpańelsko[t̠͡ʃpaɲɛskɔ]'Spanish'These dialects merge /ʈ͡ʂ/ and /t͡ɕ/ into [t͡ʃ].
Jablunkov[12][t̠͡ʃpaɲɛlskɔ]
Slovakčíslo[t͡ʃiːslo]'number'See Slovak phonology
Slovenekoča[ˈkòːt͡ʃáː]'cottage'
Spanish[13]chocolate'chocolate'See Spanish phonology
Swahilijicho[ʄit͡ʃo]/جِيچٗ'eye'
SwedishFinlandtjugo[t͡ʃʉːɡʉ]'twenty'See Swedish phonology
Some rural Swedish dialectskärlek[t͡ʃæːɭeːk]'love'
Tagalogtsuper[t͡ʃʊˈpɛɾ]'driver'See Tagalog phonology
Tlingitjinkaat[ˈt͡ʃinkʰaːtʰ]'ten'
Turkishçok[t͡ʃok]'very'See Turkish phonology
Tyapcat[t͡ʃad]'love'
UbykhÇəbƹəja/čëbžëya[t͡ʃəbʒəja]'pepper'See Ubykh phonology
Ukrainian[14]чотири/čotyry[t͡ʃo̞ˈtɪrɪ]'four'See Ukrainian phonology
Uzbekchoʻl/چۉل[t͡ʃɵl]'desert'
Yiddishטשאַטשקע/čačke[t͡ʃat͡ʃkɛ]'knick-knack'See Yiddish phonology
ZapotecTilquiapan[15]chane[t͡ʃanɘ]

Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Polish, Catalan, and Thai have a voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate /t͡ɕ/; this is technically postalveolar but it is less precise to use /t͡ʃ/.

Related characters

There are several Unicode characters based on the tesh digraph (ʧ):

  • U+107AE 𐞮 MODIFIER LETTER SMALL TESH DIGRAPH is an IPA superscript letter[16]
  • U+1DF17 𝼗 LATIN SMALL LETTER TESH DIGRAPH WITH PALATAL HOOK is used in phonetic transcription[17][18]
  • U+1DF1C 𝼜 LATIN SMALL LETTER TESH DIGRAPH WITH RETROFLEX HOOK has been used in phonetic descriptions of Polish[19]

Voiceless postalveolar non-sibilant affricate

Voiceless postalveolar non-sibilant affricate
t̠ɹ̠̊˔
tɹ̝̊˗
Audio sample

Features

  • Its manner of articulation is affricate, which means it is produced by first stopping the airflow entirely, then allowing air flow through a constricted channel at the place of articulation, causing turbulence.
  • Its place of articulation is postalveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge.
  • Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords. In some languages the vocal cords are actively separated, so it is always voiceless; in others the cords are lax, so that it may take on the voicing of adjacent sounds.
  • It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
  • It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
  • The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

LanguageWordIPAMeaningNotes
EnglishAustralian[20]tree[t̠͡ɹ̠̊˔ʷɪi̯]'tree'Phonetic realization of the stressed, syllable-initial sequence /tr/.[20][21][22] In General American and Received Pronunciation, the less common alternative is alveolar [tɹ̝̊].[21] See Australian English phonology and English phonology
General American[21][22]
Received Pronunciation[21][22]

Notes

References

External links