Affricate
consonant that begins as a stop but releases as a fricative
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Affricates are consonants that are said with a stop with a fricative immediately afterwards. For example, the 'ch' sound in English (written as /t͡ʃ/ in IPA) is said with an 't' (/t/) sound with an 'sh' (/ʃ/) sound immediately afterwards. Both voiced and voiceless affricates exist; in English, they are /d͡ʒ/ (the 'j' sound) and /t͡ʃ/ (the 'ch' sound) respectively.
| Voicing | IPA | Often written as letter(s)... | Sample word in English | Sample word in IPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voiceless affricate | t͡ʃ | ch | chew | /t͡ʃu/ |
| Voiced affricate | d͡ʒ | j | Jew | /d͡ʒu/ |
In Mandarin Chinese, affricates are told apart by aspiration, or breathiness, since voiced affricates do not exist; aspirated affricates, or breathy affricates, are /t͡ɕʰ/ (written as 'q' in Hanyu Pinyin), /t͡sʰ/ ('c'), and /ʈ͡ʂʰ/ ('ch'), and unaspirated affricates, or non-breathy affricates, are /t͡ɕ/ ('j'), /t͡s/ ('z'), and /ʈ͡ʂ/ ('zh').
| Aspiration | Pinyin | IPA | Sample Chinese word | Word meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aspirated | ch- | /ʈ͡ʂʰ/ | 炒 chǎo | to fry |
| c- | /t͡sʰ/ | 草 cǎo | grass / straw | |
| q- | /t͡ɕʰ/ | 桥 qiáo | bridge | |
| Unaspirated | zh- | /ʈ͡ʂ/ | zhào 找 | to look for / to seek |
| z- | /t͡s/ | zǎo 早 | morning | |
| j- | /t͡ɕ/ | jiào 叫 | to call (oneself) |