Voiceless postalveolar affricate

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

Voiceless postalveolar affricate
Voiceless postalveolar affricate
tʃ
t̠ʃ
IPA Number	103 134
Audio sample
	source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	t͡ʃ
Unicode (hex)	U+0074 U+0361 U+0283
X-SAMPA	tS or t_rS
Image

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⟩ or ⟨tʃ⟩ (formerly the ligature ⟨ʧ⟩). The alternative commonly used in American tradition is ⟨č⟩. It is familiar to English speakers as the "ch" sound in "chip".

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:

Its manner of articulation is sibilant affricate, which means it is produced by first stopping the air flow entirely, then directing it with the tongue to the sharp edge of the teeth, causing high-frequency turbulence.
Its place of articulation is palato-alveolar, that is, domed (partially palatalized) postalveolar, which means it is articulated with the blade of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge, and the front of the tongue bunched up ("domed") at the palate.
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.
Its 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

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Adyghe		чэмы	[t͡ʃamə]^ⓘ	'cow'	Some dialects contrast labialized and non-labialized forms.
Albanian		çelur	[t͡ʃɛluɾ]	'open'
Aleut	Atkan dialect	chamĝul	[t͡ʃɑmʁul]	'to wash'
Amharic		አንቺ	[ant͡ʃi]	'you'
Arabic^[1]	Central Palestinian	مكتبة (Normally unwritten)	[ˈmat͡ʃt̪abe]	'library'	Corresponds to [k] in Standard Arabic and other varieties. See Arabic phonology
	Iraqi	چتاب	[t͡ʃɪˈt̪ɑːb]	'book'
	Jordanian	كتاب (Normally unwritten)	[t͡ʃɪˈt̪aːb]	'book'
Armenian	Eastern^[2]	ճնճղուկ	[t͡ʃənt͡ʃʁuk]^ⓘ	'sparrow'
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic		chmah	[t͡ʃmaː]	'how many?'	Used in the Urmia and Nochiya dialects. Corresponds to [k] in other varieties.
Azerbaijani		Əkinçi	[æcint͡ʃʰi]	'the ploughman'
Bengali		চশমা	[t͡ʃɔʃma]	'spectacles'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Bengali phonology
Basque		txalupa	[t͡ʃalupa]	'boat'
Bulgarian		чучулига	[t͡ʃut͡ʃuˈliɡɐ]	'lark'	See Bulgarian phonology
Central Alaskan Yup'ik		nacaq	[ˈnat͡ʃaq]	'parka hood'
Choctaw		hakchioma	[hakt͡ʃioma]	'tobacco'
Coptic	Bohairic dialect	ϭⲟϩ	[t͡ʃoh]	'touch'
Czech		morče	[ˈmo̞rt͡ʃɛ]	'guinea pig'	See Czech phonology
English		church	['t͡ʃɜɹt͡ʃ]	'church'	Slightly labialized [tʃʷ]. See English phonology
Esperanto		ĉar	[t͡ʃar]	'because'	See Esperanto phonology
Faroese		gera	[t͡ʃeːɹa]	'to do'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Faroese phonology
French	Standard	caoutchouc	[kaut͡ʃu]	'rubber'	Relatively rare; occurs mostly in loanwords. See French phonology
French	Acadian	tiens	[t͡ʃɛ̃]	'(I/you) keep'	Allophone of /k/ and /tj/ before a front vowel.
Galician		cheo	[ˈt͡ʃeo]	'full'	Galician-Portuguese /t͡ʃ/ is conserved in Galician and merged with /ʃ/ in most Portuguese dialects. See Galician phonology
Georgian^[3]		ჩიხი	[t͡ʃixi]	'impasse'
German	Standard^[4]	Tschinelle	[t͡ʃʷiˈnɛlə]	'cymbal'	Laminal or apico-laminal and strongly labialized.^[4] See Standard German phonology
Greek	Cypriot	τζ̌αι	[t͡ʃe̞]	'and'	Contrasts with /t͡ʃʰː/ and prenasalised [d͡ʒ].
Hebrew		תשובה	[t͡ʃuˈva]	'answer'	See Modern Hebrew phonology
Hindustani		चाय چاۓ	[t͡ʃɑːj]	'tea'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Hindustani phonology
Haitian Creole		match	[mat͡ʃ]	'sports match'
Hungarian		gyümölcslé	[ˈɟymølt͡ʃleː]	'juice'	See Hungarian phonology
Italian^[5]		ciao	[ˈt͡ʃaːo]	'hi'	See Italian phonology
K'iche'		K'iche'	[kʼiˈt͡ʃeʔ]	'K'iche''	Contrasts with ejective form
Kabardian		чэнж	[t͡ʃanʒ]^ⓘ	'shallow'
Kashubian^[6]		^{[example needed]}
Korean		미쳤다/michyeotda	[mit͡ʃʰjʌt̚t˭ɐ]	'crazy'
Macedonian		чека	[t͡ʃɛka]	'wait'	See Macedonian phonology
Malay		cuci	[t͡ʃut͡ʃi]	'wash'
Maltese		bliċ	[blit͡ʃ]	'bleach'
Manx		çhiarn	[ˈtʃaːrn]	'lord'
Marathi		चहा	[t͡ʃəhɑː]	'tea'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Marathi phonology
Nahuatl		āyōtōchtli	[aːjoːˈtoːt͡ʃt͡ɬi]	'armadillo'
Norwegian	Some dialects	kjøkken	[t͡ʃøkːen]	'kitchen'	See Norwegian phonology
Nunggubuyu^[7]		jaro	[t͡ʃaɾo]	'needle'
Occitan		chuc	[ˈt͡ʃyk]	'juice'	See Occitan phonology
Persian		چوب	[t͡ʃʰuːb]	'wood'	See Persian phonology
Polish	Gmina Istebna	ciemny	[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^[8]
	Malbork dialect^[8]
	Ostróda dialect^[8]
	Warmia dialect^[8]
Portuguese	Most northern and some central Portuguese dialects	chamar	[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^[9]	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 dialects	tchau	[ˈt͡ʃaw]	'bye'	In Standard European Portuguese it occurs only in recent loanwords.
Punjabi		ਚੌਲ or چول	[t͡ʃɔːl]	'rice'
Quechua		chunka	[t͡ʃʊŋka]	'ten'
Romanian		cer	[t͡ʃe̞r]	'sky'	See Romanian phonology
Rotuman^[10]		joni	[ˈt͡ʃɔni]	'to flee'
Scottish Gaelic		slàinte	[ˈsl̪ˠaːnʲt͡ʃə]	'health'	Southern dialects only; standard pronunciation is [tʲ]. See Scottish Gaelic phonology
Serbo-Croatian	Some speakers	čokoláda чоколада	[t͡ʃo̞ko̞ˈɫǎ̠ːd̪a̠]	'chocolate'	In varieties that don't distinguish /ʈ͡ʂ/ from /t͡ɕ/.
Silesian	Gmina Istebna^[11]	^{[example needed]}			These dialects merge /ʈ͡ʂ/ and /t͡ɕ/ into [t͡ʃ].
Silesian	Jablunkov^[11]	^{[example needed]}			These dialects merge /ʈ͡ʂ/ and /t͡ɕ/ into [t͡ʃ].
Spanish^[12]		chocolate	[t͡ʃo̞ko̞ˈlät̪e̞]^ⓘ	'chocolate'	See Spanish phonology
Swahili		jicho	[ʄit͡ʃo]	'eye'
Swedish	Finland	tjugo	[t͡ʃʉːɡʉ]	'twenty'	See Swedish phonology
Swedish	Some rural Swedish dialects	kärlek	[t͡ʃæːɭeːk]	'love'	See Swedish phonology
Tlingit		jinkaat	[ˈt͡ʃiŋkʰaːtʰ]	'ten'
Turkish		çok	[t͡ʃok]	'very'	See Turkish phonology
Ubykh		Çəbƹəja	[t͡ʃəbʒəja]	'pepper'	See Ubykh phonology
Ukrainian^[13]		чотири	[t͡ʃo̞ˈtɪrɪ]	'four'	See Ukrainian phonology
Uzbek		choʻl	[t͡ʃɵl]	'desert'
Zapotec	Tilquiapan^[14]	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/.

Voiceless postalveolar non-sibilant affricate

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.
Its 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

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
English	Australian^[15]	tree	[t̠ɹ̠̊˔ʷɪi̯]	'tree'	Phonetic realization of the stressed, syllable-initial sequence /tr/.^[15]^[16]^[17]^[18] In General American and Received Pronunciation, the less common alternative is alveolar [tɹ̝̊].^[16] See Australian English phonology and English phonology
	General American^[16]^[17]
	Received Pronunciation^[16]^[17]
	Port Talbot^[18]		[t̠ɹ̠̊˔iː]

Notes

^ Watson (2002:17)
^ Dum-Tragut (2009:13)
^ Shosted & Chikovani (2006:255)
^ ^a ^b Mangold (2005:51–52)
^ Rogers & d'Arcangeli (2004:117)
^ Jerzy Treder. "Fonetyka i fonologia". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-11-16.
^ Ladefoged (2005:158)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Dubisz, Karaś & Kolis (1995:62)
^ Barbosa & Albano (2004:228)
^ Blevins (1994:492)
^ ^a ^b Dąbrowska (2004:?)
^ Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003:255)
^ Danyenko & Vakulenko (1995), p. 4.
^ Merrill (2008:108)
^ ^a ^b Cox & Fletcher (2017), p. 144.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Gimson (2014), pp. 177, 186–188, 192.
^ ^a ^b ^c Wells (2008).
^ ^a ^b Connolly (1990), p. 121.

References

Barbosa, Plínio A.; Albano, Eleonora C. (2004), "Brazilian Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (2): 227–232, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001756
Blevins, Juliette (1994), "The Bimoraic Foot in Rotuman Phonology and Morphology", Oceanic Linguistics, 33 (2): 491–516, doi:10.2307/3623138, JSTOR 3623138
Connolly, John H. (1990), "Port Talbot English", in Coupland, Nikolas; Thomas, Alan Richard (eds.), English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change, Multilingual Matters Ltd., pp. 121–129, ISBN 1-85359-032-0
Cox, Felicity; Fletcher, Janet (2017) [First published 2012], Australian English Pronunciation and Transcription (2nd ed.), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-1-316-63926-9
Dąbrowska, Anna (2004), Język polski, Wrocław: wydawnictwo Dolnośląskie, ISBN 83-7384-063-X
Dubisz, Stanisław; Karaś, Halina; Kolis, Nijola (1995), Dialekty i gwary polskie, Warsaw: Wiedza Powszechna, ISBN 83-2140989-X
Danyenko, Andrii; Vakulenko, Serhii (1995), Ukrainian, Lincom Europa, ISBN 9783929075083
Dum-Tragut, Jasmine (2009), Armenian: Modern Eastern Armenian, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Gimson, Alfred Charles (2014), Cruttenden, Alan (ed.), Gimson's Pronunciation of English (8th ed.), Routledge, ISBN 9781444183092
Ladefoged, Peter (2005), Vowels and Consonants (Second ed.), Blackwell
Mangold, Max (2005) [First published 1962], Das Aussprachewörterbuch (6th ed.), Mannheim: Dudenverlag, ISBN 978-3-411-04066-7
Martínez-Celdrán, Eugenio; Fernández-Planas, Ana Ma.; Carrera-Sabaté, Josefina (2003), "Castilian Spanish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (2): 255–259, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001373
Merrill, Elizabeth (2008), "Tilquiapan Zapotec" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 38 (1): 107–114, doi:10.1017/S0025100308003344
Rogers, Derek; d'Arcangeli, Luciana (2004), "Italian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (1): 117–121, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001628
Shosted, Ryan K.; Chikovani, Vakhtang (2006), "Standard Georgian" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 36 (2): 255–264, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002659
Watson, Janet (2002), The Phonology and Morphology of Arabic, New York: Oxford University Press
Wells, John C. (2008), Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.), Longman, ISBN 9781405881180

External links

List of languages with [t̠ʃ] on PHOIBLE

[1] Watson (2002:17)

[2] Dum-Tragut (2009:13)

[3] Shosted & Chikovani (2006:255)

[MangoldPA-4] Mangold (2005:51–52)

[5] Rogers & d'Arcangeli (2004:117)

[6] Jerzy Treder. "Fonetyka i fonologia". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-11-16.

[7] Ladefoged (2005:158)

[Dubisz-8] Dubisz, Karaś & Kolis (1995:62)

[9] Barbosa & Albano (2004:228)

[10] Blevins (1994:492)

[Dąbrowska-11] Dąbrowska (2004:?)

[12] Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003:255)

[FOOTNOTEDanyenkoVakulenko19954-13] Danyenko & Vakulenko (1995), p. 4.

[14] Merrill (2008:108)

[FOOTNOTECoxFletcher2017144-15] Cox & Fletcher (2017), p. 144.

[FOOTNOTEGimson2014177,_186–188,_192-16] Gimson (2014), pp. 177, 186–188, 192.

[FOOTNOTEWells2008-17] Wells (2008).

[FOOTNOTEConnolly1990121-18] Connolly (1990), p. 121.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]