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Voiceless postalveolar affricate
ʧ
IPA Number103 134
Audio sample
Encoding
Entity (decimal)t​͡​ʃ
Unicode (hex)U+0074 U+0361 U+0283
X-SAMPAtS or t_rS

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 ⟩ ⟨tʃ ⟩ (formerly the ligature ⟨ʧ ⟩), or, in broad transcription, ⟨c⟩. This affricate has a dedicated symbol U+02A7 ʧ LATIN SMALL LETTER TESH DIGRAPH, which has been retired by the International Phonetic Association but is still used. 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:

Occurrence

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Adyghe чэмы/čamë/چەمہـ [t͡ʃamə] 'cow' Some dialects contrast labialized and non-labialized forms.
Albanian çelur [t͡ʃɛluɾ] 'opened'
Aleut Atkan dialect chamĝul [t͡ʃɑmʁul] 'to wash'
Amharic አንቺ/anči [ant͡ʃi] 'you'
Arabic [1] Central Palestinian مكتبة (Normally unwritten)/mačtabe [ˈmat͡ʃt̪abe] 'library' Corresponds to [k] in Standard Arabic and other varieties. See Arabic phonology
Iraqi چتاب/čitaab [t͡ʃɪˈt̪ɑːb] 'book'
Jordanian كتاب (Normally unwritten)/čitaab [t͡ʃɪˈt̪aːb]
Aragonese chuego [ˈt͡ʃueɣo] 'game'
Armenian Eastern [2] ճնճղուկ/čënčquk [t͡ʃənt͡ʃʁuk] 'sparrow'
Assyrian ܟ̰ܝܡܐ/č’yama [t͡ʃˤjɑmɑ] 'to shut' Found in native terminology. Widespread usage in all dialect varieties. Developed from an original /tˤ/.
Asturian Chipre [ˈt͡ʃipɾe] ' Cyprus' Mostly found in loanwords, if possible, usually replaced by x [ ʃ].
Azerbaijani Əkinçi/اکینچی [æcint͡ʃʰi] 'the ploughman'
Bengali শমা/čošma [t͡ʃɔʃma] 'spectacles' Contrasts with aspirated form. See Bengali phonology
Basque txalupa [t͡ʃalupa] 'boat'
Bulgarian чучулига/čučuliga [t͡ʃʊt͡ʃuˈliɡɐ] 'lark' See Bulgarian phonology
Catalan cotxe [ˈkɔ.t͡ʃə] 'car' See Catalan phonology.
Central Alaskan Yup'ik nacaq [ˈnat͡ʃaq] 'parka hood'
Choctaw hakchioma [hakt͡ʃioma] 'tobacco'
Coptic Bohairic dialect ϭⲟϩ/čoh [t͡ʃʰɔh] 'touch'
Czech morče [ˈmo̞rt͡ʃɛ] 'guinea pig' See Czech phonology
Dhivehi ޗަކަސް / čakas [t͡ʃakas] 'mud' Relatively rare, usually occurs in loanwords / onomatoepic words
Dutch Tjongejone [t͡ʃɔŋəjɔŋə] 'jeez' An exclamation of (mild) annoyance, surprise, wonder or amazement. [3]

Pronunciation is region dependent.

English beach [biːt͡ʃ] 'beach' Slightly labialized [tʃʷ]. See English phonology
Esperanto ĉar [t͡ʃar] 'because' See Esperanto phonology
Estonian ello [ˈtʃelˑo] 'cello' Rare, occurs only in loanwords. see Estonian phonology
Faroese gera [t͡ʃeːɹa] 'to do' Contrasts with aspirated form. See Faroese phonology
Finnish ekki [ˈt̪ʃe̞kːi] ' Czechia' Rare, occurs only in loanwords. See Finnish phonology
French Standard caoutchouc [kaut͡ʃu] 'rubber' Relatively rare; occurs mostly in loanwords. See French phonology
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 [4] იხი/čixi [t͡ʃixi] 'impasse'
German Standard [5] Tschüss [t͡ʃʏs] 'bye' Laminal or apico-laminal and strongly labialized. [5] See Standard German phonology
Greek Cypriot τσ̌άι/čai [t͡ʃɑːiː] 'tea'
Hausa ciwo/ثِيوُاْ [t͡ʃíː.wòː] 'disease, pain'
Hebrew תשובה/čuva [t͡ʃuˈva] 'answer' See Modern Hebrew phonology
Hindustani Hindi चा/čáy [t͡ʃɑːj] 'tea' Contrasts with aspirated form. See Hindustani phonology
Urdu چائے/çáy
Haitian Creole match [mat͡ʃ] 'sports match'
Hungarian gyümölcs [ˈɟymølt͡ʃleː] 'fruit juice' See Hungarian phonology
Italian [6] ciao [ˈt͡ʃaːo] 'hi' See Italian phonology
Javanese cedhak/ꦕꦼꦣꦏ꧀/چۤڎَاك [t͡ʃəɖaʔ] 'near'
Kʼicheʼ K'iche' [kʼiˈt͡ʃeʔ] 'Kʼicheʼ'' Contrasts with ejective form
Kabardian чэнж/čanž/چەنژ [t͡ʃanʒ] 'shallow'
Kashubian [7] czësto [t͡ʃəstɔ] 'cleanly'
Kurdish hirç/هرچ [hɪɾt͡ʃ] 'bear'
Ladino kolcha/קולגﬞה [ˈkolt͡ʃa] 'quilt'
Macedonian чека/čeka [t͡ʃɛka] 'wait' See Macedonian phonology
Malay Standard cuci/چوچي [t͡ʃut͡ʃi] 'to wash' See Malay phonology
Indonesian Palatal [ c] according to some analyses. See Malay phonology
Maltese bliċ [blit͡ʃ] 'bleach'
Manx çhiarn [ˈt͡ʃaːrn] 'lord'
Marathi हा/čahá [t͡ʃəhaː] 'tea' Contrasts with aspirated form. Allophone of /tɕ / and /ts/.See Marathi phonology
Mongolian Khalkha dialect наргиж/nargič
ᠨᠠᠷᠭᠢᠵ
[ˈnargit͡ʃ] 'laugh'
Nahuatl āyōtōchtli [aːjoːˈtoːt͡ʃt͡ɬi] 'armadillo'
Norwegian Some dialects kjøkken [t͡ʃøkːen] 'kitchen' See Norwegian phonology
Nunggubuyu [8] jaro [t͡ʃaɾo] 'needle'
Occitan chuc [ˈt͡ʃyk] 'juice' See Occitan phonology
Odia /caka [t͡ʃɔkɔ] 'wheel' Contrasts with aspirated form.
Persian چوب/чӯб/çub [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 [9]
Malbork dialect [9]
Ostróda dialect [9]
Warmia dialect [9]
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 [10] 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/ چول/čol [t͡ʃɔːl] 'rice'
Quechua chunka [t͡ʃʊŋka] 'ten'
Romani ćiriklo [t͡ʃiriˈklo] 'bird' Contrasts with aspirated form.
Romanian cer [ˈt͡ʃe̞r] 'sky' See Romanian phonology
Rotuman [11] 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 do not distinguish /ʈ͡ʂ/ from /t͡ɕ/.
Silesian Gmina Istebna [12] szpańelsko [t̠͡ʃpaɲɛskɔ] 'Spanish' These dialects merge /ʈ͡ʂ/ and /t͡ɕ/ into [t͡ʃ].
Jablunkov [12] [t̠͡ʃpaɲɛlskɔ]
Slovak číslo [t͡ʃiːslo] 'number' See Slovak phonology
Slovene koča [ˈkòːt͡ʃáː] 'cottage'
Spanish [13] chocolate [t͡ʃo̞ko̞ˈlät̪e̞] 'chocolate' See Spanish phonology
Swahili jicho [ʄit͡ʃo]/جِيچٗ 'eye'
Swedish Finland tjugo [t͡ʃʉːɡʉ] 'twenty' See Swedish phonology
Some rural Swedish dialects kärlek [t͡ʃæːɭeːk] 'love'
Tagalog tsuper [t͡ʃʊˈpɛɾ] 'driver' See Tagalog phonology
Tlingit jinkaat [ˈt͡ʃinkʰaːtʰ] 'ten'
Turkish çok [t͡ʃok] 'very' See Turkish phonology
Tyap cat [t͡ʃad] 'love'
Ubykh Çəbƹəja/čëbžëya [t͡ʃəbʒəja] 'pepper' See Ubykh phonology
Ukrainian [14] чотири/čotyry [t͡ʃo̞ˈtɪrɪ] 'four' See Ukrainian phonology
Uzbek choʻl/çúl/چۉل [t͡ʃɵl] 'desert'
Yiddish טשאַטשקע/čačke [t͡ʃat͡ʃkɛ] 'knick-knack' See Yiddish phonology
Zapotec Tilquiapan [15] 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/.

There are several Unicode characters based on the tesh digraph (ʧ):

Voiceless postalveolar non-sibilant affricate

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

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 [20] tree [t̠͡ɹ̠̊˔ʷɪi̯] 'tree' Phonetic realization of the stressed, syllable-initial sequence /tr/. [20] [21] [22] In General American and Received Pronunciation, the less common alternative is alveolar [ tɹ̝̊]. [21] See Australian English phonology and English phonology
General American [21] [22]
Received Pronunciation [21] [22]

Notes

  1. ^ Watson (2002:17)
  2. ^ Dum-Tragut (2009:13)
  3. ^ "Tjongejonge". 2 April 2019.
  4. ^ Shosted & Chikovani (2006:255)
  5. ^ a b Mangold (2005:51–52)
  6. ^ Rogers & d'Arcangeli (2004:117)
  7. ^ Jerzy Treder. "Fonetyka i fonologia". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-11-16.
  8. ^ Ladefoged (2005:158)
  9. ^ a b c d Dubisz, Karaś & Kolis (1995:62)
  10. ^ Barbosa & Albano (2004:228)
  11. ^ Blevins (1994:492)
  12. ^ a b Dąbrowska (2004:?)
  13. ^ Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003:255)
  14. ^ Danyenko & Vakulenko (1995), p. 4.
  15. ^ Merrill (2008:108)
  16. ^ Miller, Kirk; Ashby, Michael (2020-11-08). "L2/20-252R: Unicode request for IPA modifier-letters (a), pulmonic" (PDF).
  17. ^ Miller, Kirk (2020-07-11). "L2/20-125R: Unicode request for expected IPA retroflex letters and similar letters with hooks" (PDF).
  18. ^ Anderson, Deborah (2020-12-07). "L2/21-021: Reference doc numbers for L2/20-266R "Consolidated code chart of proposed phonetic characters" and IPA etc. code point and name changes" (PDF).
  19. ^ Miller, Kirk; Everson, Michael (2021-01-03). "L2/21-004: Unicode request for dezh with retroflex hook" (PDF).
  20. ^ a b Cox & Fletcher (2017), p. 144.
  21. ^ a b c d Cruttenden (2014), pp. 177, 186–188, 192.
  22. ^ a b c Wells (2008).

References