# Voiceless retroflex affricate

The voiceless retroflex sibilant affricate is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨t̠͡ʂ⟩, sometimes simplified to ⟨tʂ⟩ or ⟨ꭧ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is ts`. Its apical variant is ⟨ʈ̺͡ʂ̺⟩ and laminal variant ⟨ʈ̻͡ʂ̻⟩.
The affricate occurs in a number of languages:
* Asturian: Speakers of the western dialects of this language use it instead of the voiced palatal fricative, writing ḷḷ instead of ll.
* Slavic languages: Polish, Belarusian, Old Czech, Serbo-Croatian; some speakers of Russian may use it instead of the voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate.
* a number of Northwest Caucasian languages have retroflex affricates that contrast in secondary articulations like labialization.
* Mandarin and other Sinitic languages.

## Features

Features of the voiceless retroflex 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.
* Its place of articulation is retroflex, which prototypically means it is articulated subapical (with the tip of the tongue curled up), but more generally, it means that it is postalveolar without being palatalized. That is, besides the prototypical subapical articulation, the tongue contact can be apical (pointed) or laminal (flat).
* 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 | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Adyghe | Adyghe | чъыгы | | 'tree' | |
| Asturian | Some dialects | ḷḷobu | [t̠͡ʂoβu] | 'wolf' | Corresponds to standard /ʎ/. |
| Belarusian | Belarusian | пачатак | [pat̠͡ʂatak] | 'the beginning' | Laminal. See Belarusian phonology |
| Chinese | Mandarin | 中文 / Zhōngwén | | 'Chinese language' | Apical. Contrasts with aspirated form. See Mandarin phonology |
| Khanty | Eastern dialects | ҷӓңҷ | [t̠͡ʂaɳt̠͡ʂ] | 'knee' | Corresponds to a voiceless retroflex fricative /ʂ/ in the northern dialects. |
| Khanty | Southern dialects | ҷӓңҷ | [t̠͡ʂaɳt̠͡ʂ] | 'knee' | Corresponds to a voiceless retroflex fricative /ʂ/ in the northern dialects. |
| Mapudungun | Mapudungun | trafoy | [t̠͡ʂa.ˈfoj] | 'it got broken' | Contrasts with a voiceless postalveolar affricate: chafoy [t͡ʃa.ˈfoj] 'he/she coughed' |
| Northern Qiang | Northern Qiang | zhes | [t̠͡ʂəs] | 'day before yesterday' | Contrasts with aspirated and voiced forms. |
| Polish | Standard | czas | | 'time' | Laminal. Transcribed /t͡ʃ/ by most Polish scholars. See Polish phonology |
| Polish | Southeastern Cuyavian dialects | cena | [ˈt̠͡ʂɛn̪ä] | 'price' | Some speakers. It is a result of hypercorrecting the more popular merger of /t̠͡ʂ/ and /t͡s/ into [t͡s]. |
| Polish | Suwałki dialect | cena | [ˈt̠͡ʂɛn̪ä] | 'price' | Some speakers. It is a result of hypercorrecting the more popular merger of /t̠͡ʂ/ and /t͡s/ into [t͡s]. |
| Quechua | Cajamarca–Cañaris | chupa | [t̠͡ʂupə] | 'tail' | |
| Russian | Russian | лу́чше / luchshe | | 'better' | |
| Serbo-Croatian | Serbo-Croatian | чеп / čep | [t̠͡ʂe̞p] | 'cork' | Apical. It may be palato-alveolar instead, depending on the dialect. See Serbo-Croatian phonology |
| Silesian | Silesian | szczopek | [ʂt̠͡ʂopɛk] | 'pike' | |
| Slovak | Slovak | čakať | [ˈt̠͡ʂäkäc] | 'to wait' | Laminal. |
| Torwali | Torwali | ڇووو | [t̠͡ʂuwu] | 'to sew' | Contrasts with aspirated form. |
| Vietnamese | Vietnamese | trà | [t̠͡ʂaː˨˩] | 'tea' | Some speakers. |
| Yi | Yi | ꍈ / zha | [t̠͡ʂa˧] | 'a bit' | Contrasts with aspirated form. |