Cannabis Indica

Voiceless postalveolar affricate
t̠ʃ
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. 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[edit]

Features of the voiceless domed postalveolar affricate:

Occurrence[edit]

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/anite [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 čyama [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 / çakas [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/ćai [t͡ʃɑːiː] 'tea'
Hausa ciwo/ثِيوُاْ [t͡ʃíː.wòː] 'disease, pain'
Hebrew תשובה/čuva [t͡ʃuˈva] 'answer' See Modern Hebrew phonology
Hindustani Hindi चा/čay [t͡ʃɑːj] 'tea' Contrasts with aspirated form. See Hindustani phonology
Urdu چائے/čay
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/çenj/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/čëha [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/čub [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/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/.

Related characters[edit]

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

Voiceless postalveolar non-sibilant affricate[edit]

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

Features[edit]

  • 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.
  • 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[edit]

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[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

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