Voiceless alveolar affricate

A voiceless alveolar affricate is a type of affricate consonant pronounced with the tip or blade of the tongue against the alveolar ridge (gum line) just behind the teeth. This refers to a class of sounds, not a single sound. There are several types with significant perceptual differences:

This article discusses the first two.

Voiceless alveolar sibilant affricate

Voiceless alveolar sibilant affricate
ts
IPA Number103 132
Audio sample
source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)ʦ
Unicode (hex)U+02A6
X-SAMPAts

The voiceless alveolar sibilant affricate is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The sound is transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet with t͡s or t͜s (formerly with ʦ or ƾ). The voiceless alveolar affricate occurs in many Indo-European languages, such as German (which was also part of the High German consonant shift), Kashmiri, Marathi, Pashto, Russian and most other Slavic languages such as Polish and Serbo-Croatian; also, among many others, in Georgian, in Mongolia, and Tibetan Sanskrit, in Japanese, in Mandarin Chinese, and in Cantonese. Some international auxiliary languages, such as Esperanto, Ido and Interlingua also include this sound.

Features

Features of the voiceless alveolar sibilant 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.
  • The stop component of this affricate is laminal alveolar, which means it is articulated with the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge. For simplicity, this affricate is usually called after the sibilant fricative component.
  • There are at least three specific variants of the fricative component:
    • Dentalized laminal alveolar (commonly called "dental"), which means it is articulated with the tongue blade very close to the upper front teeth, with the tongue tip resting behind lower front teeth. The hissing effect in this variety of [s] is very strong.
    • Non-retracted alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal.
    • Retracted alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue slightly behind the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal. Acoustically, it is close to [ʃ] or laminal [ʂ].
  • 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

The following sections are named after the fricative component.

Variable

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
German Standard Zeit [t͡sʰäɪ̯t] 'time' The fricative component varies between dentalized laminal, non-retracted laminal and non-retracted apical. See Standard German phonology
Italian Standard grazia [ˈɡrät̚t͡sjä] 'grace' The fricative component varies between dentalized laminal and non-retracted apical. In the latter case, the stop component is laminal denti-alveolar. See Italian phonology

Dentalized laminal alveolar

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Armenian Eastern ցանց/chanch [t̻͡s̪ʰan̪t̻͡s̪ʰ] 'net' Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms
Basque hotz [o̞t̻͡s̪] 'cold' Contrasts with a sibilant affricate with an apical fricative component.
Belarusian цётка/cötka [ˈt̻͡s̪ʲɵtka] 'aunt' Contrasting palatalization. See Belarusian phonology
Bulgarian цар/car [t̻͡s̪är] 'Tsar' See Bulgarian phonology
Chinese Mandarin 早餐/zao can/tsau ts'an [t̻͡s̪ɑʊ˨˩t̻͡s̪ʰan˥] 'breakfast' Contrasts with aspirated form. See Standard Chinese phonology
Cantonese 早餐/zou² caan¹ /t͡sou˧˥t͡sʰaːn˥/ 'breakfast' See Cantonese phonology
Czech co [t̻͡s̪o̝] 'what' See Czech phonology
Hungarian cica [ˈt̻͡s̪it̻͡s̪ɒ] 'kitten' See Hungarian phonology
Japanese 津波/cunami [t̻͡s̪ɯ̟ᵝnämi] 'Tsunami' Allophone of /t/ before /u/. See Japanese phonology
Kashmiri ژاس/tsās [t͡saːs] 'cough'
Kashubian [example needed]
Kazakh инвестиция/investitsiya [investit̻͡s̪əja] 'price' Only in loanwords from Russian See Kazakh phonology and Kyrgyz phonology
Kyrgyz
Latvian cena [ˈt̻͡s̪en̪ä] 'price' See Latvian phonology
Macedonian цвет/cvet [t̻͡s̪ve̞t̪] 'flower' See Macedonian phonology
Pashto څــلور/calor [ˌt͡səˈlor] 'four' See Pashto phonology
Polish co [t̻͡s̪ɔ] 'what' See Polish phonology
Romanian preț [pre̞t̻͡s̪] 'price' See Romanian phonology
Russian царь/caŕ [t̻͡s̪ärʲ] 'Tsar' See Russian phonology
Serbo-Croatian циљ / cilj / ڄیڵ [t̻͡s̪îːʎ] 'target' See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Slovak cisár [t̻͡s̪isaːr] 'emperor' See Slovak phonology
Slovene cvet [t̻͡s̪ʋêːt̪] 'bloom' See Slovene phonology
Tyap tsa [t͡sa] 'to begin'
Ukrainian цей/cej [t̻͡s̪ɛj] 'this one' Contrasting palatalization. See Ukrainian phonology
Upper Sorbian cybla [ˈt̻͡s̪ɘblä] 'onion'
Uzbek [example needed]

Non-retracted alveolar

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Arabic Najdi ك‍‍لب/tsalb [t͡salb] 'dog' Corresponds to /k/ and /t͡ʃ/ in other dialects
Asturian Some dialects otso [ˈot͡so] 'eight' Corresponds to standard /t͡ʃ/
Ḷḷena, Mieres, and others ḷḷuna [ˈt͡sunɐ] 'moon' Alveolar realization of che vaqueira instead of normal retroflex [ʈ͡ʂ]
Basque hots [ot̻͡s̺] 'sound' The fricative component is apical. Contrasts with a laminal affricate with a dentalized fricative component.
Catalan potser [puˈt̻͡s̺(ː)e] 'maybe' The fricative component is apical. Only restricted to morpheme boundaries, some linguistics do not consider it a phoneme (but a sequence of [t] + [s]). Long and short versions of intervocalic affricates are in free variation in Central Catalan [tsː] ~ [ts]. See Catalan phonology
Central Alaskan Yup'ik cetaman [t͡səˈtaman] 'four' Allophone of /t͡ʃ/ before schwa
Chamorro CHamoru [t͡sɑˈmoːɾu] 'Chamorro' Spelled Chamoru in the orthography used in the Northern Mariana Islands.
Chechen цаца / caca / ر̤ار̤ا [t͡sət͡sə] 'sieve'
Cherokee ᏣᎳᎩ tsalagi [t͡salaɡi] 'Cherokee'
Danish Standard to [ˈt̻͡s̺ʰoːˀ] 'two' The fricative component is apical. In some accents, it is realized as [tʰ]. Usually transcribed /tˢ/ or /t/. Contrasts with the unaspirated stop [t], which is usually transcribed /d̥/ or /d/. See Danish phonology
Dargwa цадеш / adeş / ڝادەش [t͡sadeʃ] 'unity, oneness'
Dutch Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect mat [ˈmät͡s] 'market' Optional pre-pausal allophone of /t/. See Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect phonology
English Broad Cockney tea [ˈt͡səˑi̯] 'tea' Possible word-initial, intervocalic and word-final allophone of /t/. See English phonology
Received Pronunciation [ˈt͡sɪˑi̯]
New York Possible syllable-initial and sometimes also utterance-final allophone of /t/. See English phonology
New Zealand Word-initial allophone of /t/. See English phonology
North Wales [ˈt͡siː] Word-initial and word-final allophone of /t/; in free variation with a strongly aspirated stop [tʰ]. See English phonology
Port Talbot Allophone of /t/. In free variation with [tʰʰ].
Scouse Possible syllable-initial and word-final allophone of /t/. See English phonology
General South African wanting [ˈwɑnt͡sɪŋ] 'wanting' Possible syllable-final allophone of /t/.
Esperanto cico ['t͡sit͡so] 'nipple' See Esperanto phonology
Filipino tsokolate [t͡sokɔlate] 'chocolate'
French Quebec tu [t͡sy] 'you' Allophone of /t/ before /i,y/.
Georgian კა/k'atsi [kʼɑt͡si] 'man'
Haida x̱ants [ʜʌnt͡s] 'shadow' Allophone of /t͡ʃ/.
Luxembourgish Zuch [t͡suχ] 'train' See Luxembourgish phonology
Marathi चा/tsamtsā ['t͡səmt͡saː] 'spoon' Represented by /च/, which also represents [t͡ʃ]. It is not a marked difference.
Nepali चा/tsāp [t͡säp] 'pressure' Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated versions. The unaspirated is represented by /च/. The aspirated sound is represented by /छ/. See Nepali phonology
Portuguese European parte sem vida [ˈpaɾt͡sẽjˈviðɐ] 'lifeless part' Allophone of /t/ before /i,ĩ/, or assimilation due to the deletion of /i~ɨ~e/. Increasingly used in Brazil.
Brazilian participação [paʁt͡sipaˈsɐ̃w̃] 'participation'
Most speakers shiatsu [ɕiˈat͡su] 'shiatsu' Marginal sound. Many Brazilians might break the affricate with epenthetic [i], often subsequently palatalizing /t/, specially in pre-tonic contexts (e.g. tsunami [tɕisuˈnɜ̃mʲi]). See Portuguese phonology
Spanish Madrid ancha [ˈänʲt͡sʲä] 'wide' Palatalized; with an apical fricative component. It corresponds to [t͡ʃ] in standard Spanish. See Spanish phonology
Chilean
Some Rioplatense dialects tía ['t͡siä] 'aunt'
Some Venezuelan dialects zorro [ˈt͡so̞ro̞] 'fox' Allophone of /s/ word initially.
Tamil Jaffna Tamil ந்தை/cantai [t͡sɐn̪d̪ɛi̯] 'market' Rare, other realizations include [t͡ʃ, ʃ, s].
Telugu ట్టి/ĉaṭṭi [t͡sɐʈʈi] 'pot'

Voiceless alveolar non-sibilant affricate

Voiceless alveolar non-sibilant affricate
tɹ̝̊
tθ̠
tθ͇
Audio sample
source · help

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 alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal.
  • 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

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Dutch Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect verbèganger [vərˈbɛːɣäŋət͡ɹ̝̊] 'passer-by' A possible realization of word-final /r/ before pauses.
English General American tree [t͡ɹ̝̊ʷɪi̯] 'tree' Phonetic realization of the stressed, syllable-initial sequence /tr/; more commonly postalveolar [t̠ɹ̠̊˔]. See English phonology
Received Pronunciation
Italian Sicily straniero [st͡ɹ̝̊äˈnjɛɾo] 'foreign' Apical. Regional realization of the sequence /tr/; may be a sequence [tɹ̝̊] or [tɹ̝] instead. See Italian phonology

See also


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