Affricate consonant
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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.[1] English has two affricate phonemes, [t͡ʃ] and [d͡ʒ], often spelled ch and j.
Examples
The English sounds spelled "ch" and "j" (transcribed [t͡ʃ] and [d͡ʒ] in the IPA), German and Italian z [t͡s] and Italian z [d͡z] are typical affricates and have sounds that 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 [d͡ʒ], voiced affricates are relatively uncommon. For several places of articulation, they are not attested at all.
Much less common are labiodental affricates, such as [p͡f] in German and Izi, or velar affricates, such as [k͡x] in Tswana (written kg) or High Alemannic Swiss German dialects. Worldwide, relatively few languages have affricates in these positions even though the corresponding stop consonants, [p] and [k], are common or virtually universal. Also less common are alveolar affricates where the fricative release is lateral, such as the [t͡ɬ] 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: [t̪͡θ], [t̪͡θʰ], [t̪͡θʼ], [t͡s], [t͡sʰ], [t͡sʼ], [t͡ʃ], [t͡ʃʰ], [t͡ʃʼ], [t͡ɬ], [t͡ɬʰ], and [t͡ɬʼ].
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 show that these are parts of a single consonant, a tie bar is generally 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 this is more legible.[2] Thus:
- ⟨p͡f, t͡sʼ, d͡z, t͡ɬ, d͡ɮ, t͡ʃʼ, d͡ʒ, t͡ɕʼ, d͡ʑ, t͡ʂʼ, d͡ʐ , k͡xʼ⟩
or
- ⟨p͜f, t͜sʼ, d͜z, t͜ɬ, d͜ɮ, t͜ʃʼ, d͜ʒ, t͜ɕʼ, d͜ʑ, t͜ʂʼ, d͜ʐ , k͜xʼ⟩.
A less common notation is to indicate the release of the affricate with a superscript:
- ⟨pᶠ, tˢ, dᶻ, tᶴ, dᶾ, kˣ⟩.
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 six common affricates
- ⟨ʦ, ʣ, ʧ, ʤ, ʨ, ʥ⟩.
Any of these notations can be used to distinguish affricates from sequences of stop plus fricative, a difference that distinguishes words in languages such as Polish. However, in languages where there is no such distinction, such as English, the tie bars are commonly dropped.
In other phonetic transcription systems, such as the Americanist system, the affricates [t͡s], [d͡z], [t͡ʃ], [d͡ʒ], [t͡ɬ], [d͡ɮ] are transcribed respectively as ⟨c⟩ or ⟨¢⟩; ⟨j⟩, ⟨ƶ⟩, or (older) ⟨ʒ⟩; ⟨c⟩ or ⟨č⟩; ⟨ǰ⟩, ⟨ǧ⟩, or (older) ⟨ǯ⟩; ⟨ƛ⟩; and ⟨λ⟩ or ⟨dl⟩. Within the IPA, [tʃ] and [dʒ] are sometimes transcribed with the symbols for the palatal stops, ⟨c⟩ and ⟨ɟ⟩.
Affricates vs. stop–fricative sequences
In some languages (but not all), affricates contrast phonemically with stop–fricative sequences:
- Polish affricate /t͡ʂ/ in czysta 'clean (f.)' versus stop–fricative /tʂ/ in trzysta 'three hundred'.
- Klallam affricate /t͡s/ in k’ʷə́nc 'look at me' versus stop–fricative /ts/ in k’ʷə́nts 'he looks at it'.
In the stop–fricative sequence, the stop has a release burst before the fricative starts; but in the affricate, the fricative element is the release. Stop–fricative sequences may have a syllable boundary between the two segments, but not necessarily.
In English, /ts/ and /dz/ (nuts, nods) are considered phonemically stop–fricative sequences because they usually contain a morpheme boundary (for example, nuts = nut + s), but the sounds are phonetically affricates. The English affricate phonemes /t͡ʃ/ and /d͡ʒ/ are generally not at a morpheme boundary. However, depending on dialect, English speakers may distinguish an affricate from a stop–fricative sequence in some contexts such as when the sequence occurs across syllable boundaries:
- cat shit /kæt.ʃɪt/ → [kʰæʔʃɪt̚]
- catch it /kæt͡ʃ.ɪt/ → [kʰæt͡ʃɪt̚]
/t/ there debuccalizes to a glottal stop before /ʃ/ in many dialects, making it phonetically distinct from /t͡ʃ/.
One acoustic criterion for differentiating affricates and stop–fricative sequences is the rate of amplitude increase of the frication noise, which is known as the rise time. Affricates have a short rise time to the peak frication amplitude; stop–fricative sequences have longer rise times (Howell & Rosen 1983, Johnson 2003, Mitani et al. 2006).
List of affricates
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].
The exemplar languages are ones that have been reported to have these sounds, but in several cases they may need confirmation.
Sibilant affricates
| Voiceless | Languages | Voiced | Languages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voiceless alveolar affricate | German z, tz Japanese つ/ツ [tsu͍] K'iche' Mandarin z (pinyin) Pashto |
Voiced alveolar affricate | Japanese (some dialects) |
| Voiceless dental affricate | Hungarian c Italian z Macedonian ц Serbo-Croatian c/ц Polish c |
Voiced dental affricate | Bulgarian дз Hungarian dz Italian z Macedonian ѕ Polish dz |
| Voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate | Japanese ち/チ [tɕi] Mandarin j (pinyin) Polish ć, ci Serbo-Croatian ć/ћ Thai จ |
Voiced alveolo-palatal affricate | Japanese じ/ジ, ぢ/ヂ [dʑi] Polish dź, dzi Serbo-Croatian đ/ђ |
| Voiceless postalveolar affricate | English ch, tch French tch German tsch Hungarian cs Italian ci, ce K'ich'e ch Spanish ch |
Voiced postalveolar affricate | English j, g French dj German dsch Hungarian dzs Italian gi, ge |
| Voiceless retroflex affricate | Mandarin zh (pinyin) Polish cz Serbo-Croatian č/ч Slovak č |
Voiced retroflex affricate | Polish dż Serbo-Croatian dž/џ 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 only has one type of affricate, it is usually a sibilant; this is the case in e.g. some Arabic dialects ([d̠ʒ]), most dialects of Spanish ([t̠ʃ]), and Thai ([t̠ɕ]).
Non-sibilant affricates
| Sound (voiceless) | IPA | Languages | Sound (voiced) | IPA | Languages |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voiceless bilabial affricate | [pɸ] | Present allophonically in Kaingang and Taos. Not reported as a phoneme in any natural language. | Voiced bilabial affricate | [bβ] | Not attested in any natural language |
| Voiceless bilabial-labiodental affricate | [pf] | German, Teke | Voiced bilabial-labiodental affricate | [bv] | Teke |
| Voiceless labiodental affricate | [p̪f] | XiNkuna Tsonga | Voiced labiodental affricate | [b̪v] | XiNkuna Tsonga |
| Voiceless dental non-sibilant affricate | [t̪θ] | New York English, Luo, Dene Suline, Cun, some varieties of Venetian and other North Italian dialects | Voiced dental non-sibilant affricate | [d̪ð] | New York English, Dene Suline |
| Voiceless retroflex non-sibilant affricate | [tɻ̝̊] | Mapudungun , Malagasy | Voiced retroflex non-sibilant affricate | [dɻ̝] | Malagasy |
| Voiceless palatal affricate | [cç] | Skolt Sami (younger speakers), Hungarian (casual speech); allophonically in Kaingang | Voiced palatal affricate | [ɟʝ] | Skolt Sami (younger speakers), Hungarian (casual speech), some Spanish dialects. Not reported to contrast with a voiced palatal plosive [ɟ] |
| Voiceless velar affricate | [kx] | Tswana, High Alemannic German | Voiced velar affricate | [ɡɣ] | Not attested in any natural language |
| Voiceless uvular affricate | [qχ] | Nez Percé, Wolof, Bats, Kabardian, Avar, Tsez. Not reported to contrast with a voiceless uvular plosive [q] in natural languages. | Voiced uvular affricate | [ɢʁ] | |
| Voiceless pharyngeal affricate | [ʡħ] | Haida. Not reported to contrast with an epiglottal stop [ʡ] | Voiced pharyngeal affricate | [ʡʕ] |
Lateral affricates
| Sound | IPA | Languages |
|---|---|---|
| Voiceless alveolar lateral affricate | [tɬ] | Cherokee, Nahuatl, Navajo, Tswana, etc. |
| Voiced alveolar lateral affricate | [dɮ] | Gwich'in, Sandawe. Not reported to ever contrast with a voiced alveolar lateral fricative [ɮ]. |
| Voiceless palatal lateral affricate | [cʎ̥˔] | also ⟨c⟩; as ejective [cʎ̥˔ʼ] = [cʼ] in Dahalo; as [tʎ̥˔] = [t] in Hadza. |
| Voiceless velar lateral affricate | [kʟ̝̊] | also ⟨k⟩; as a prevelar in Archi and as an ejective [kʟ̝̊ʼ] = [kʼ] in Zulu, also exist in the Laghuu language. |
| Voiced velar lateral affricate | [ɡʟ̝] | Laghuu. |
Trilled affricates
| Sound | IPA | Languages |
|---|---|---|
| Voiced prenasalized trilled bilabial affricate | [mbʙ] | Kele and Avava |
| Voiceless dental bilabially trilled affricate | [t̪ʙ̥] | Wari’ |
| Voiced prenasalized trilled alveolar affricate | [ndr] | Fijian and Avava |
| Voiceless alveolar trilled affricate | [tʳ] | Ngkoth |
| Voiced alveolar trilled affricate | [dʳ] | Nias |
| Voiceless epiglottal (trilled pharyngeal) affricate | [ʡʜ] | |
| Voiced epiglottal (trilled pharyngeal) affricate | [ʡʢ] | Hydaburg Haida. Cognate to Southern Haida [ɢ], Masset Haida [ʕ].[3] |
Heterorganic affricates
Although most affricates are homorganic, Navajo and Chiricahua Apache have a heterorganic alveolar-velar affricate [tx] (McDonough & Ladefoged 1993, Hoijer & Opler 1938). Wari’ has a voiceless dental bilabially trilled affricate [t̪ʙ̥] (see #Trilled affricates). Other heterorganic affricates are reported for Northern Sotho (Johnson 2003) and other Bantu languages such as Phuthi, which has alveolar–labiodental affricates [tf] and [dv], and Sesotho, which has bilabial–palatoalveolar afficates [pʃ] and [bʒ]. Djeoromitxi (Pies 1992) has [ps] and [bz].
Phonation, coarticulation and other variants
The more common of the voiceless affricates are all attested as ejectives as well: [tθʼ, tsʼ, tɬʼ, tʃʼ, tɕʼ, tʂʼ, cʎ̥ʼ, kxʼ, kʟ̝̊ʼ]. Several Khoisan languages such as !Xóõ are reported to have voiced ejective affricates, but these may actually be consonant clusters: [dtsʼ, dtʃʼ]. Affricates are also commonly aspirated: [ɱp̪fʰ, tθʰ, tsʰ, tɬʰ, tʃʰ, tɕʰ, tʂʰ], occasionally murmured: [ɱb̪vʱ, d̠ʒʱ], and sometimes prenasalized: [ⁿdz, ⁿdzʱ, ᶯɖʐ, ᶯɖʐʱ]. Labialized, palatalized, velarized, and pharyngealized affricates also occur. 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. Kehrein analyzes phonetic affricates as phonological stops.[4] 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 to Kehrein, 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
Affrication (sometimes called affricatization) is a sound change by which a consonant, usually a stop or fricative, changes into an affricate. Examples include:
- Old English [k] > Modern English [tʃ], as in chin (cf. German Kinn; see also yod-coalescence in English)
- [p, t, k] > [pf, ts, kx] in the High German consonant shift
- [t] > [ts, tɕ] before [ɯᵝ, i] respectively in 16th-century Japanese[5]
- [r] > [dʒ, dʑ] word-initially in Udmurt[6]
Pre-affrication
In rare instances, a fricative–stop contour may occur. This is the case in dialects of Scotts Gaelic that have velar frication [ˣ] where other dialects have pre-aspiration. For example, in the Harris dialect there is [ʃaˣkʰ] 'seven' and [əhʷɔˣkʰ] 'eight' (or [ʃax͜kʰ], [əhʷɔx͜kʰ]).[7]
See also
References
- ↑ Peter Roach, Engelish Phonetics and Phonology Glassary, 2009
- ↑ For example, in Niesler, Louw, & Roux (2005) Phonetic analysis of Afrikaans, English, Xhosa and Zulu using South African speech databases
- ↑
- ↑ Kehrein (2002) Phonological Representation and Phonetic Phasing
- ↑ Takayama, Tomoaki (2015). "15– Historical Phonology". In Kubozono, Haruo. Handbook of Japanese Phonetics and Phonology. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. pp. 629–630. ISBN 9781614511984. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
- ↑ Csúcs, Sándor (2005). Die Rekonstruktion der permischen Grundsprache. Bibliotheca Uralica (in German) 13. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó. p. 139. ISBN 963-05-8184-1.
- ↑ Laver (1994) Principles of Phonetics, p. 374.
- 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.
- Howell Peter; & Rosen, Stuart. (1983). Production and perception of rise time in the voiceless affricate/fricative distinction. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 73 (3), 976–984.
- Johnson, Keith. (2003). Acoustic & auditory phonetics (2nd ed.). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
- Maddieson, Ian. (1984). Patterns of sounds. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-26536-3
- McDonough, Joyce; & Ladefoged, Peter. (1993). Navajo stops. UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics, 84, 151–164.
- Mitani, Shigeki; Kitama, Toshihiro; & Sato, Yu. (2006). Voiceless affricate/fricative distinction by frication duration and amplitude rise slope. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 120 (3), 1600–1607.
