# Voiceless alveolar affricate

A voiceless 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 voiceless alveolar sibilant affricate [t͡s] is the most common type, similar to the ts in English cats.
* The voiceless alveolar non-sibilant affricate [t͡θ̠] or [t͡θ͇], using the alveolar diacritic from the Extended IPA, is somewhat similar to the th in some pronunciations of English eighth. It is found as a regional realization of the sequence /tr/ in some Sicilian dialects of Standard Italian.
* The voiceless alveolar lateral affricate [t͡ɬ] is found in certain languages, such as Cherokee, Mexican Spanish, and Nahuatl.
* The voiceless alveolar retracted sibilant affricate [t͡s̺], also called apico-alveolar or grave, has a weak hushing sound reminiscent of retroflex affricates. One language in which it is found is Basque, where it contrasts with a more conventional non-retracted laminal alveolar affricate.
This article discusses the first two.

## Voiceless alveolar sibilant affricate

The voiceless alveolar sibilant affricate is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The sound is transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet with ⟨t͡s⟩ or ⟨t͜s⟩ (formerly with ⟨ʦ⟩ or ⟨ƾ⟩). The voiceless alveolar affricate occurs in many Indo-European languages, such as German (which was also part of the High German consonant shift), Kashmiri, Marathi, Pashto, Russian and most other Slavic languages such as Polish and Serbo-Croatian; also, among many others, in Georgian, in Mongolia, and Tibetan Sanskrit, in Japanese, in Mandarin Chinese, and in Cantonese. Some international auxiliary languages, such as Esperanto, Ido and Interlingua also include this sound.

### Features

Features of the voiceless 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 [s] 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 [ʃ] or laminal [ʂ].
* 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

The following sections are named after the fricative component.

#### Variable

| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| German | Standard | Zeit | [t͡säɪ̯t] | 'time' | The fricative component varies between dentalized laminal, non-retracted laminal and non-retracted apical. See Standard German phonology |
| Italian | Standard | grazia | [ˈɡrät̚t͡sjä] | 'grace' | 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 |

#### Dentalized laminal alveolar

| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Armenian | Eastern | ցանց/canc | | 'net' | Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms |
| Basque | Basque | hotz | [o̞t̻͡s̪] | 'cold' | Contrasts with a sibilant affricate with an apical fricative component. |
| Belarusian | Belarusian | цётка/cötka | [ˈt̻͡s̪ʲɵtka] | 'aunt' | Contrasting palatalization. See Belarusian phonology |
| Bulgarian | Bulgarian | цар/car | [t̻͡s̪är] | 'Tsar' | See Bulgarian phonology |
| Chinese | Mandarin | 早餐 / zǎo cān | [t̻͡s̪ɑʊ˨˩ t̻͡s̪ʰan˥] | 'breakfast' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Standard Chinese phonology |
| Chinese | Cantonese | 早餐 / zou2 caan1 | /t͡sou˧˥ t͡sʰaːn˥/ | 'breakfast' | See Cantonese phonology |
| Czech | Czech | co | [t̻͡s̪o̝] | 'what' | See Czech phonology |
| Hungarian | Hungarian | cica | [ˈt̻͡s̪it̻͡s̪ɒ] | 'kitten' | See Hungarian phonology |
| Japanese | Japanese | 津波 / tsunami | [t̻͡s̪ɯ̟ᵝnämʲi] | 'Tsunami' | Allophone of /t/ before /u/. See Japanese phonology |
| Japanese | Japanese | モッツァレラ/mottsarera | [mo̞t̻t̻͡s̪äɾe̞ɾä] | 'mozzarella' | May appear before other vowels in loanwords. See Japanese phonology |
| Kashmiri | Kashmiri | ژاس/cás | [t͡saːs] | 'cough' | |
| Kashubian | Kashubian | | | | |
| Kazakh | Kazakh | инвестиция/investitsiya | [investit̻͡s̪əja] | 'price' | Only in loanwords from Russian See Kazakh phonology and Kyrgyz phonology |
| Only in loanwords from Russian See Kazakh phonology and Kyrgyz phonology ||
| Latvian | Latvian | cena | [ˈt̻͡s̪en̪ä] | 'price' | See Latvian phonology |
| Macedonian | Macedonian | цвет/cvet | [t̻͡s̪ve̞t̪] | 'flower' | See Macedonian phonology |
| Pashto | Pashto | څــلور/cëlor | [ˌt͡səˈlor] | 'four' | See Pashto phonology |
| Polish | Polish | co | | 'what' | See Polish phonology |
| Romanian | Romanian | preț | [pre̞t̻͡s̪] | 'price' | See Romanian phonology |
| Russian | Russian | царь/caŕ | [t̻͡s̪ärʲ] | 'Tsar' | See Russian phonology |
| Serbo-Croatian | Serbo-Croatian | циљ / cilj / ڄیڵ | [t̻͡s̪îːʎ] | 'target' | See Serbo-Croatian phonology |
| Slovak | Slovak | cisár | [t̻͡s̪isaːr] | 'emperor' | See Slovak phonology |
| Slovene | Slovene | cvet | [t̻͡s̪ʋêːt̪] | 'bloom' | See Slovene phonology |
| Tyap | Tyap | tsa | [t͡sa] | 'to begin' | |
| Ukrainian | Ukrainian | цей/cej | [t̻͡s̪ɛj] | 'this one' | Contrasting palatalization. See Ukrainian phonology |
| Upper Sorbian | Upper Sorbian | cybla | [ˈt̻͡s̪ɘblä] | 'onion' | |
| Uzbek | Uzbek | | | | |

#### Non-retracted alveolar

| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Arabic | Najdi | ك‍‍لب/tsalb | [t͡salb] | 'dog' | Corresponds to /k/ and /t͡ʃ/ in other dialects |
| Asturian | Some dialects | otso | [ˈot͡so] | 'eight' | Corresponds to standard /t͡ʃ/ |
| Asturian | Ḷḷena, Mieres, and others | ḷḷuna | [ˈt͡sunɐ] | 'moon' | Alveolar realization of che vaqueira instead of normal retroflex [ʈ͡ʂ] |
| Basque | Basque | hots | [ot̻͡s̺] | 'sound' | The fricative component is apical. Contrasts with a laminal affricate with a dentalized fricative component. |
| Catalan | Catalan | potser | [puˈt̻͡s̺(ː)e] | 'maybe' | The fricative component is apical. Only restricted to morpheme boundaries, some linguistics do not consider it a phoneme (but a sequence of [t] + [s]). Long and short versions of intervocalic affricates are in free variation in Central Catalan [tsː] ~ [ts]. See Catalan phonology |
| Central Alaskan Yup'ik | Central Alaskan Yup'ik | cetaman | [t͡səˈtaman] | 'four' | Allophone of /t͡ʃ/ before schwa |
| Chamorro | Chamorro | CHamoru | [t͡sɑˈmoːɾu] | 'Chamorro' | Spelled Chamoru in the orthography used in the Northern Mariana Islands. |
| Chechen | Chechen | цаца / caca / ر̤ار̤ا | [t͡sət͡sə] | 'sieve' | |
| Cherokee | Cherokee | ᏣᎳᎩ tsalagi | [t͡salaɡi] | 'Cherokee' | |
| Danish | Standard | to | [ˈt̻͡s̺ʰoːˀ] | 'two' | The fricative component is apical. In some accents, it is realized as [tʰ]. Usually transcribed /tˢ/ or /t/. Contrasts with the unaspirated stop [t], which is usually transcribed /d̥/ or /d/. See Danish phonology |
| Dargwa | Dargwa | цадеш / ꞩadeş / ڝادەش | [t͡sadeʃ] | 'unity, oneness' | |
| Dutch | Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect | mat | [ˈmät͡s] | 'market' | Optional pre-pausal allophone of /t/. See Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect phonology |
| English | Broad Cockney | tea | [ˈt͡səˑi̯] | 'tea' | Possible word-initial, intervocalic and word-final allophone of /t/. See English phonology |
| English | Received Pronunciation | tea | [ˈt͡sɪˑi̯] | 'tea' | Possible word-initial, intervocalic and word-final allophone of /t/. See English phonology |
| English | New York | tea | [ˈt͡sɪˑi̯] | 'tea' | Possible syllable-initial and sometimes also utterance-final allophone of /t/. See English phonology |
| English | New Zealand | tea | [ˈt͡sɪˑi̯] | 'tea' | Word-initial allophone of /t/. See English phonology |
| English | North Wales | tea | [ˈt͡siː] | 'tea' | Word-initial and word-final allophone of /t/; in free variation with a strongly aspirated stop [tʰ]. See English phonology |
| English | Port Talbot | tea | [ˈt͡siː] | 'tea' | Allophone of /t/. In free variation with [tʰʰ]. |
| English | Scouse | tea | [ˈt͡siː] | 'tea' | Possible syllable-initial and word-final allophone of /t/. See English phonology |
| English | General South African | wanting | [ˈwɑnt͡sɪŋ] | 'wanting' | Possible syllable-final allophone of /t/. |
| Esperanto | Esperanto | cico | ['t͡sit͡so] | 'nipple' | See Esperanto phonology |
| Filipino | Filipino | tsokolate | [t͡sokɔlate] | 'chocolate' | |
| French | Quebec | tu | [t͡sy] | 'you' | Allophone of /t/ before /i, y/. |
| Georgian | Georgian | კაცი/k'atsi | [kʼɑt͡si] | 'man' | |
| Haida | Haida | x̱ants | [ʜʌnt͡s] | 'shadow' | Allophone of /t͡ʃ/. |
| Luxembourgish | Luxembourgish | Zuch | [t͡suχ] | 'train' | See Luxembourgish phonology |
| Marathi | Marathi | चमचा/tsamtsā | ['t͡səmt͡saː] | 'spoon' | Represented by /च/, which also represents [t͡ʃ]. It is not a marked difference. |
| Nepali | Nepali | चाप/tsāp | [t͡säp] | 'pressure' | Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated versions. The unaspirated is represented by /च/. The aspirated sound is represented by /छ/. See Nepali phonology |
| Portuguese | European | parte sem vida | [ˈpaɾt͡sẽj ˈviðɐ] | 'lifeless part' | Allophone of /t/ before /i, ĩ/, or assimilation due to the deletion of /i ~ ɨ ~ e/. Increasingly used in Brazil. |
| Portuguese | Brazilian | participação | [paʁt͡sipaˈsɐ̃w̃] | 'participation' | Allophone of /t/ before /i, ĩ/, or assimilation due to the deletion of /i ~ ɨ ~ e/. Increasingly used in Brazil. |
| Portuguese | Most speakers | shiatsu | [ɕiˈat͡su] | 'shiatsu' | Marginal sound. Many Brazilians might break the affricate with epenthetic [i], often subsequently palatalizing /t/, specially in pre-tonic contexts (e.g. tsunami [tɕisuˈnɜ̃mʲi]). See Portuguese phonology |
| Spanish | Madrid | ancha | [ˈänʲt͡sʲä] | 'wide' | Palatalized; with an apical fricative component. It corresponds to [t͡ʃ] in standard Spanish. See Spanish phonology |
| Spanish | Chilean | ancha | [ˈänʲt͡sʲä] | 'wide' | Palatalized; with an apical fricative component. It corresponds to [t͡ʃ] in standard Spanish. See Spanish phonology |
| Spanish | Some Rioplatense dialects | tía | ['t͡siä] | 'aunt' | Palatalized; with an apical fricative component. It corresponds to [t͡ʃ] in standard Spanish. See Spanish phonology |
| Spanish | Some Venezuelan dialects | zorro | [ˈ t͡so̞ro̞] | 'fox' | Allophone of /s/ word initially. |
| Tamil | Jaffna Tamil | சந்தை/cantai | [t͡sɐn̪d̪ɛi̯] | 'market' | Rare, other realizations include [t͡ʃ, ʃ, s]. |
| Telugu | Telugu | ౘట్టి/ĉaṭṭi | [t͡sɐʈʈi] | 'pot' | |

## Voiceless 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 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 |
| Dutch | Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect | verbèganger | [vərˈbɛːɣäŋət͡ɹ̝̊] | 'passer-by' | A possible realization of word-final /r/ before pauses. |
| English | General American | tree | | 'tree' | Phonetic realization of the stressed, syllable-initial sequence /tr/; more commonly postalveolar [t̠ɹ̠̊˔]. See English phonology |
| English | Received Pronunciation | tree | | 'tree' | Phonetic realization of the stressed, syllable-initial sequence /tr/; more commonly postalveolar [t̠ɹ̠̊˔]. See English phonology |
| Italian | Sicily | straniero | [st͡ɹ̝̊äˈnjɛɾo] | 'foreign' | Apical. Regional realization of the sequence /tr/; may be a sequence [tɹ̝̊] or [tɹ̝] instead. See Italian phonology |