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.
| Above: | Voiceless alveolar sibilant affricate |
| Ipa Number: | 103 132 |
| Ipa Symbol: | ts |
| Ipa Symbol2: | ʦ |
| Decimal1: | 678 |
| X-Sampa: | ts |
| Kirshenbaum: | ts |
| Imagefile: | IPA Unicode 0x02A6.svg |
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 (IPA|t͡s) or (IPA|t͜s) (formerly with (IPA|ʦ) or (IPA|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 of the voiceless alveolar sibilant affricate:
The following sections are named after the fricative component.
| Language | Word | Meaning | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | German: [[German orthography|'''Z'''eit]] | pronounced as /[t͡sʰäɪ̯t]/ | 'time' | The fricative component varies between dentalized laminal, non-retracted laminal and non-retracted apical. See Standard German phonology | ||
| Standard | Italian: [[Italian orthography|gra'''z'''ia]] | pronounced as /[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 | ||
| Language | Word | Meaning | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armenian: [[Armenian alphabet|'''ց'''ան'''ց''']]/canc | 'net' | Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms | |||
| Basque[2] | Basque: [[Basque alphabet|ho'''tz''']] | pronounced as /[o̞t̻͡s̪]/ | 'cold' | Contrasts with a sibilant affricate with an apical fricative component. | |
| Belarusian: [[Belarusian alphabet|'''ц'''ётка]]/cötka | pronounced as /[ˈt̻͡s̪ʲɵtka]/ | 'aunt' | Contrasting palatalization. See Belarusian phonology | ||
| Bulgarian: [[Bulgarian alphabet|'''ц'''ар]]/car | pronounced as /[t̻͡s̪är]/ | 'Tsar' | See Bulgarian phonology | ||
| Chinese: [[Chinese characters|早餐]] | 'breakfast' | ||||
| Chinese: [[Chinese characters|早餐]] | pronounced as //t͡sou˧˥ t͡sʰaːn˥// | 'breakfast' | |||
| Czech: [[Czech orthography|'''c'''o]] | pronounced as /[t̻͡s̪o̝]/ | 'what' | See Czech phonology | ||
| Hungarian: [[Hungarian orthography|'''c'''i'''c'''a]] | pronounced as /[ˈt̻͡s̪it̻͡s̪ɒ]/ | 'kitten' | See Hungarian phonology | ||
| Japanese: [[kanji|'''津'''波]]tsunami | 'Tsunami' | Allophone of /t/ before /u/. See Japanese phonology | |||
| Japanese: [[katakana|モ'''ッツァ'''レラ]]/mottsarera | 'mozzarella' | May appear before other vowels in loanwords. See Japanese phonology | |||
| Kashmiri | ژاس/cás | [t͡saːs] | 'cough' | ||
| Kashubian[3] | |||||
| Kazakh: [[Kazakh alphabets|инвести'''ц'''ия]]/investitsiya | [investit̻͡s̪əja] | 'price' | Only in loanwords from Russian See Kazakh phonology and Kyrgyz phonology | ||
| Kyrgyz | |||||
| Latvian: [[Latvian orthography|'''c'''ena]] | pronounced as /[ˈt̻͡s̪en̪ä]/ | 'price' | See Latvian phonology | ||
| Macedonian: [[Macedonian alphabet|'''ц'''вет]]/cvet | pronounced as /[t̻͡s̪ve̞t̪]/ | 'flower' | See Macedonian phonology | ||
| Panjabi; Punjabi: [[Pashto alphabet|'''څـ'''ـلور]]/cëlor | pronounced as /[ˌt͡səˈlor]/ | 'four' | See Pashto phonology | ||
| Polish: [[Polish orthography|'''c'''o]] | 'what' | See Polish phonology | |||
| Romanian[4] | Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: [[Romanian alphabet|pre'''ț''']] | pronounced as /[pre̞t̻͡s̪]/ | 'price' | See Romanian phonology | |
| Russian: [[Russian orthography|'''ц'''арь]]/caŕ | pronounced as /[t̻͡s̪ärʲ]/ | 'Tsar' | See Russian phonology | ||
| pronounced as /[t̻͡s̪îːʎ]/ | 'target' | See Serbo-Croatian phonology | |||
| Slovak: [[Slovak orthography|'''c'''isár]] | pronounced as /[t̻͡s̪isaːr]/ | 'emperor' | See Slovak phonology | ||
| Slovenian: [[Slovene orthography|'''c'''vet]] | pronounced as /[t̻͡s̪ʋêːt̪]/ | 'bloom' | See Slovene phonology | ||
| '''ts'''a|italic=yes | pronounced as /[t͡sa]/ | 'to begin' | |||
| Ukrainian[5] | Ukrainian: [[Ukrainian alphabet|'''ц'''ей]]/cej | pronounced as /[t̻͡s̪ɛj]/ | 'this one' | Contrasting palatalization. See Ukrainian phonology | |
| Upper Sorbian: '''c'''ybla | pronounced as /[ˈt̻͡s̪ɘblä]/ | 'onion' | |||
| Language | Word | Meaning | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [[Arabic alphabet|'''ك'''لب]]/tsalb | pronounced as /[t͡salb]/ | 'dog' | Corresponds to pronounced as //k// and pronounced as //t͡ʃ// in other dialects | |||
| Some dialects[6] | Asturian; Bable; Leonese; Asturleonese: o'''ts'''o | pronounced as /[ˈot͡so]/ | 'eight' | Corresponds to standard pronounced as //t͡ʃ// | ||
| Ḷḷena, Mieres, and others | ḷḷuna | pronounced as /[ˈt͡sunɐ]/ | 'moon' | Alveolar realization of che vaqueira instead of normal retroflex pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Basque: [[Basque alphabet|ho'''ts''']] | pronounced as /[ot̻͡s̺]/ | 'sound' | The fricative component is apical. Contrasts with a laminal affricate with a dentalized fricative component. | |||
| Catalan; Valencian: [[Catalan orthography|po'''ts'''er]] | pronounced as /[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 | |||
| '''c'''etaman | pronounced as /[t͡səˈtaman]/ | 'four' | Allophone of pronounced as //t͡ʃ// before schwa | |||
| Chamorro: '''CH'''amoru | pronounced as /[t͡sɑˈmoːɾu]/ | 'Chamorro' | Spelled Chamorro: '''Ch'''amoru in the orthography used in the Northern Mariana Islands. | |||
| Chechen: [[Cyrillic script|'''ц'''а'''ц'''а]] / Chechen: '''c'''a'''c'''a / Chechen: '''ر̤'''ا'''ر̤'''ا | pronounced as /[t͡sət͡sə]/ | 'sieve' | ||||
| Cherokee[7] | Cherokee: [[Cherokee syllabary|ᏣᎳᎩ]] Cherokee: '''ts'''alagi | pronounced as /[t͡salaɡi]/ | 'Cherokee' | |||
| Standard | Danish: [[Danish orthography|'''t'''o]] | pronounced as /[ˈt̻͡s̺ʰoːˀ]/ | 'two' | The fricative component is apical. In some accents, it is realized as pronounced as /[tʰ]/. Usually transcribed pronounced as //tˢ// or pronounced as //t//. Contrasts with the unaspirated stop pronounced as /link/, which is usually transcribed pronounced as //d̥// or pronounced as //d//. See Danish phonology | ||
| Dargwa: [[Cyrillic script|'''ц'''адеш]] / Dargwa: '''ꞩ'''adeş / Dargwa: '''ڝ'''ادەش | pronounced as /[t͡sadeʃ]/ | 'unity, oneness' | ||||
| Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect | mat | pronounced as /[ˈmät͡s]/ | 'market' | Optional pre-pausal allophone of pronounced as //t//. See Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect phonology | ||
| pronounced as /[ˈt͡səˑi̯]/ | 'tea' | Possible word-initial, intervocalic and word-final allophone of pronounced as //t//. See English phonology | ||||
| pronounced as /[ˈt͡sɪˑi̯]/ | ||||||
| Possible syllable-initial and sometimes also utterance-final allophone of pronounced as //t//. See English phonology | ||||||
| Word-initial allophone of pronounced as //t//. See English phonology | ||||||
| pronounced as /[ˈt͡siː]/ | Word-initial and word-final allophone of pronounced as //t//; in free variation with a strongly aspirated stop pronounced as /[tʰ]/. See English phonology | |||||
| Port Talbot[8] | Allophone of /t/. In free variation with [tʰʰ]. | |||||
| Possible syllable-initial and word-final allophone of pronounced as //t//. See English phonology | ||||||
| wanting | pronounced as /[ˈwɑnt͡sɪŋ]/ | 'wanting' | Possible syllable-final allophone of pronounced as //t//. | |||
| Esperanto | cico | pronounced as /['t͡sit͡so]/ | 'nipple' | See Esperanto phonology | ||
| Filipino; Pilipino: [[Filipino alphabet|'''ts'''okolate]] | pronounced as /[t͡sokɔlate]/ | 'chocolate' | ||||
| Quebec | tu | pronounced as /[t͡sy]/ | 'you' | Allophone of pronounced as //t// before pronounced as //i, y//. | ||
| Georgian: [[Georgian scripts|კა'''ც'''ი]]/k'atsi | pronounced as /[kʼɑt͡si]/ | 'man' | ||||
| x̱ants | pronounced as /[ʜʌnt͡s]/ | 'shadow' | Allophone of pronounced as //t͡ʃ//.[9] | |||
| Luxembourgish; Letzeburgesch: '''Z'''uch | pronounced as /[t͡suχ]/ | 'train' | See Luxembourgish phonology | |||
| Marathi | चमचा/tsamtsā | pronounced as /['t͡səmt͡saː]/ | 'spoon' | Represented by /च/, which also represents pronounced as /link/. It is not a marked difference. | ||
| Nepali | /tsāp | pronounced as /[t͡säp]/ | 'pressure' | Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated versions. The unaspirated is represented by /च/. The aspirated sound is represented by /छ/. See Nepali phonology | ||
| European[10] | Portuguese: [[Portuguese orthography|par'''te s'''em vida]] | 'lifeless part' | Allophone of pronounced as /link/ before pronounced as //i, ĩ//, or assimilation due to the deletion of pronounced as //i ~ ɨ ~ e//. Increasingly used in Brazil.[11] | |||
| Portuguese: [[Portuguese orthography|par'''tic'''ipação]] | pronounced as /[paʁt͡sipaˈsɐ̃w̃]/ | 'participation' | ||||
| Most speakers[12] | Portuguese: [[Portuguese orthography|shia'''ts'''u]] | pronounced as /[ɕiˈat͡su]/ | 'shiatsu' | Marginal sound. Many Brazilians might break the affricate with epenthetic pronounced as /[i]/, often subsequently palatalizing pronounced as //t//, specially in pre-tonic contexts (e.g. Portuguese: tsunami pronounced as /[tɕisuˈnɜ̃mʲi]/).[13] See Portuguese phonology | ||
| Madrid[14] | Spanish; Castilian: [[Spanish orthography|an'''ch'''a]] | pronounced as /[ˈänʲt͡sʲä]/ | 'wide' | Palatalized; with an apical fricative component. It corresponds to pronounced as /link/ in standard Spanish. See Spanish phonology | ||
| Chilean | ||||||
| Some Rioplatense dialects | Spanish; Castilian: [[Spanish orthography|'''t'''ía]] | pronounced as /['t͡siä]/ | 'aunt' | |||
| Some Venezuelan dialects | pronounced as /[ˈ t͡so̞ro̞]/ | 'fox' | Allophone of /s/ word initially. | |||
| Tamil | Jaffna Tamil | Albanian: [[Tamil script|'''ச'''ந்தை]]/cantai | pronounced as /[t͡sɐn̪d̪ɛi̯]/ | 'market' | Rare, other realizations include [t͡ʃ, ʃ, s].[15] | |
| Telugu | Telugu: [[Telugu script|'''ౘ'''ట్టి]]/ĉaṭṭi | pronounced as /[t͡sɐʈʈi]/ | 'pot' | |||
| Above: | Voiceless alveolar non-sibilant affricate |
| Ipa Symbol: | tɹ̝̊ |
| Ipa Symbol2: | tθ̠ |
| Ipa Symbol3: | tθ͇ |
| Language | Word | Meaning | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dutch; Flemish: [[Dutch alphabet|verbègange'''r''']] | pronounced as /[vərˈbɛːɣäŋət͡ɹ̝̊]/ | 'passer-by' | A possible realization of word-final pronounced as //r// before pauses. | |||
| tree | 'tree' | Phonetic realization of the stressed, syllable-initial sequence pronounced as //tr//; more commonly postalveolar pronounced as /link/. See English phonology | ||||
| Received Pronunciation | ||||||
| Italian: [[Italian orthography|s'''tr'''aniero]] | 'foreign' | Apical. Regional realization of the sequence pronounced as //tr//; may be a sequence pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|t}}{{IPAplink|ɹ̝̊}}]/ or pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|t}}{{IPAplink|ɹ̝}}]/ instead. See Italian phonology | ||||
pronounced as /navigation/