A
voiced alveolar sibilant affricate is a type of
consonantal sound used in some
spoken languages. The sound is transcribed in the
International Phonetic Alphabet with or . The tie bar may be omitted, yielding . There is also a ligature , which has been retired by the International Phonetic Association but is still used.
Features Features of a voiced alveolar sibilant affricate: • 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 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 or laminal .
Occurrence The following sections are named after the fricative component.
Dentalized laminal alveolar Non-retracted alveolar Retracted alveolar Variable ==Voiced alveolar non-sibilant affricate==