# Voiced alveolar affricate

A voiced 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:
* The voiced alveolar sibilant affricate [d͡z] is the most common type, similar to the ds in English lads.
* The voiced alveolar non-sibilant affricate [dð̠], or [dð͇] using the alveolar diacritic from the Extended IPA, is found, for example, in some dialects of English and Italian.
* The voiced alveolar retracted sibilant affricate [d͡z̺]

## Voiced alveolar sibilant affricate

The 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 ⟨d͡z⟩ or ⟨d͜z⟩ (formerly ⟨ʣ⟩ or ⟨ƻ⟩).

### Features

Features of the voiced alveolar sibilant 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.
* 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 [z] 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 [ʒ] or laminal [ʐ].
* Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
* 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

The following sections are named after the fricative component.

#### Dentalized laminal alveolar

| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Armenian | Eastern | ձուկ/dzuk | | 'fish' | |
| Belarusian | Belarusian | пэндзаль/pendzal | [ˈpɛn̪d̻͡z̪alʲ] | 'paintbrush' | Contrasts with palatalized form. See Belarusian phonology |
| Czech | Czech | Afgánec byl | [ˈävɡäːnɛd̻͡z̪ bɪɫ̪] | 'an Afghan was' | Allophone of /t͡s/ before voiced consonants. See Czech phonology |
| Hungarian | Hungarian | bodza | [ˈbod̻͡z̪ːɒ] | 'elderberry' | See Hungarian phonology |
| Japanese | Japanese | 残念/zan'nen | [d͡zã̠nːẽ̞ɴ] | 'regretful' | See Japanese phonology |
| Kashubian | Kashubian | dze | [d͡ze] | 'where' | |
| Latvian | Latvian | drudzis | [ˈd̪rud̻͡z̪is̪] | 'fever' | See Latvian phonology |
| Macedonian | Macedonian | ѕвезда/dzvezda | [ˈd̻͡z̪ve̞z̪d̪ä] | 'star' | See Macedonian phonology |
| Montenegrin | Montenegrin | dzindzula | [ˈd̻͡z̪inˈd̻͡z̪ulä] | 'jujube' | See Montenegrin phonology |
| Pashto | Pashto | ځوان | [d͡zwɑn] | 'youth' 'young' | See Pashto phonology |
| Polish | Polish | dzwon | | 'bell' | See Polish phonology |
| Russian | Russian | плацдарм/placdarm | [pɫ̪ɐd̻͡z̪ˈd̪är̠m] | 'bridgehead' | Allophone of /t͡s/ before voiced consonants. See Russian phonology |
| Serbo-Croatian | Serbo-Croatian | otac bi | [ǒ̞t̪äd̻͡z̪ bi] | 'father would' | Allophone of /t͡s/ before voiced consonants. See Serbo-Croatian phonology |
| Slovak | Slovak | medzi | [med͡zi] | 'between' | See Slovak phonology |
| Slovene | Slovene | brivec brije | [ˈbɾíːʋə̀d̻͡z̪ bɾíjɛ̀] | 'barber shaves' | Allophone of /t͡s/ before voiced consonants in native words. As a phoneme present only in loanwords. See Slovene phonology |
| Tyap | Tyap | zat | [d͡zad] | 'buffalo' | |
| Ukrainian | Ukrainian | дзвін dzvin | [d̻͡z̪ʋin̪] | 'bell' | Contrasts with palatalized form. See Ukrainian phonology |
| Upper Sorbian | Upper Sorbian | | | | Allophone of /t͡s/ before voiced consonants. |

#### Non-retracted alveolar

| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Arabic | Najdi | قـليب/dzelib | [d͡zɛ̝lib] | 'well' | Corresponds to /q/, /ɡ/, or /dʒ/ in other dialects. |
| English | Broad Cockney | day | [ˈd͡zæˑɪ̯] | 'day' | Possible word-initial, intervocalic and word-final allophone of /d/. See English phonology |
| English | Received Pronunciation | day | [ˈd͡zeˑɪ̯] | 'day' | Possible word-initial, intervocalic and word-final allophone of /d/. See English phonology |
| English | New York | day | [ˈd͡zeˑɪ̯] | 'day' | Possible syllable-initial and sometimes also utterance-final allophone of /d/. See English phonology |
| English | Scouse | day | [ˈd͡zeˑɪ̯] | 'day' | Possible syllable-initial and word-final allophone of /d/. See English phonology |
| French | Quebec | du | [d͡zy] | 'of the' | Allophone of /d/ before /i, y, j/. |
| Georgian | Georgian | ძვალი/dzvali | [d͡zvɑli] | 'bone' | |
| Luxembourgish | Luxembourgish | spadséieren | [ʃpɑˈd͡zɜ̝ɪ̯əʀən] | 'to go for a walk' | Marginal phoneme that occurs only in a few words. See Luxembourgish phonology |
| Marathi | Marathi | जोर/dzor | [d͡zor] | 'force' | Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated versions. The unaspirated is represented by ज, which also represents [d͡ʒ]. The aspirated sound is represented by झ, which also represents [d͡ʒʱ]. There is no marked difference for either one. |
| Ollari | Ollari | jōnel | [d͡zoːnel] | 'maize' | |
| Nepali | Nepali | आज/ādza | [äd͡zʌ] | 'today' | Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated versions. The unaspirated is represented by /ज/. The aspirated sound is represented by /झ/. See Nepali phonology |
| Naiki | Naiki | jūrol | [d͡zuːɾol] | 'cricket' | |
| Portuguese | European | desafio | [d͡zɐˈfi.u] | 'challenge' | Allophone of /d/ before /i, ĩ/, or assimilation due to the deletion of /i ~ ɨ ~ e/. Increasingly used in Brazil. |
| Portuguese | Brazilian | aprendizado | [apɾẽ̞ˈd͡zadu] | 'learning' | Allophone of /d/ before /i, ĩ/, or assimilation due to the deletion of /i ~ ɨ ~ e/. Increasingly used in Brazil. |
| Portuguese | Many speakers | mezzosoprano | [me̞d͡zo̞so̞ˈpɾɐ̃nu] | 'mezzo-soprano' | Marginal sound. Some might instead use spelling pronunciations. See Portuguese phonology |
| Romanian | Moldavian dialects | zic | [d͡zɨk] | 'say' | Corresponds to [z] in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology |
| Telugu | Telugu | ౙత/dzata | [d͡zɐt̪ɐ] | 'pair, set' | |
| Teochew | Swatow | 日本/jitpun | [d͡zit̚˨˩.pʊn˥˧] | 'Japan' | |
| Toda | Toda | üɀ | [yd͡z] | 'five' | |

#### Retracted alveolar

| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Catalan | Catalan | dotze | [ˈd̪odd̠͡z̠ə] | 'twelve' | Apical. See Catalan phonology |
| Occitan | Gascon | messatge | [məˈs̠ːa̠d̠͡z̠ə] | 'message' | Laminal in other dialects. Varies with [dʒ] in some words. |
| Occitan | Languedocien | messatge | [məˈs̠ːa̠d̠͡z̠ə] | 'message' | Laminal in other dialects. Varies with [dʒ] in some words. |
| Piedmontese | Piedmontese | arvëdse | [ɑrˈvəd̠͡z̠e] | 'goodbye' | |
| Sardinian | Central dialects | pranzu | [ˈpränd̠͡z̠u] | 'lunch' | |

#### Variable

| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Greek | Greek | τζάκι | [ˈd͡zɐc̠i] | 'fireplace' | Varies between retracted and non-retracted, depending on the environment. Phonemically, it is a stop–fricative sequence. See Modern Greek phonology |
| Italian | Italian | zero | [ˈd͡zɛːro] | 'zero' | 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 |
| Montenegrin | Montenegrin | dzavala | [ˈd̻͡z̪avalä] | 'haystack' | Varies between dentalized laminal and sibilant affricate. See Montenegrin phonology |
| West Frisian | West Frisian | skodzje | [ˈs̠kɔd͡zjə] | 'shake' | Laminal; varies between retracted and non-retracted. Phonemically, it is a stop–fricative sequence. The example word also illustrates [s̠]. See West Frisian phonology |

## Voiced alveolar non-sibilant affricate
### 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 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.
* Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
* 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 |
| Dutch | Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect | | | | A possible realization of word-final, non-pre-pausal /r/. |
| English | General American | dream | [d͡ɹ̝ʷɪi̯m] | 'dream' | Phonetic realization of the stressed, syllable-initial sequence /dr/; more commonly postalveolar [d̠͡ɹ̠˔]. See English phonology |
| English | Received Pronunciation | dream | [d͡ɹ̝ʷɪi̯m] | 'dream' | Phonetic realization of the stressed, syllable-initial sequence /dr/; more commonly postalveolar [d̠͡ɹ̠˔]. See English phonology |
| Italian | Sicily | Adriatico | [äd͡ɹ̝iˈäːt̪iko] | 'the Adriatic Sea' | Apical. It is a regional realization of the sequence /dr/, and can be realized as the sequence [dɹ̝] instead. See Italian phonology |