Voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate

Consonantal sound

tɕ

cɕ

IPA Number 215

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Encoding

Entity (decimal) ᪐

Unicode (hex) U+1A90

X-SAMPA t_s\

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The voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant affricate is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represent this sound are ⟨t͡ɕ⟩, ⟨t͜ɕ⟩, ⟨c͡ɕ⟩ and ⟨c͜ɕ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbols are t_s\ and c_s\, though transcribing the stop component with ⟨c⟩ (c in X-SAMPA) is rare. The tie bar may be omitted, yielding ⟨tɕ⟩ or ⟨cɕ⟩ in the IPA and ts\ or cs\ in X-SAMPA.

Neither [t] nor [c] are a completely narrow transcription of the stop component, which can be narrowly transcribed as [t̠ʲ] (retracted and palatalized [t]) or [c̟] (advanced [c]). The equivalent X-SAMPA symbols are t_-' or t_-_j and c_+, respectively. There is also a dedicated symbol ⟨ȶ⟩, which is not a part of the IPA. Therefore, narrow transcriptions of the voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant affricate include [t̠ʲɕ], [c̟ɕ] and [ȶɕ].

This affricate used to have a dedicated symbol ⟨ʨ⟩ was one of the six dedicated symbols for affricates in the International Phonetic Alphabet. It occurs in languages such as Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Polish, Serbo-Croatian or Russian, and is the sibilant equivalent of voiceless palatal affricate. U+107AB 𐞫 MODIFIER LETTER SMALL TC DIGRAPH WITH CURL is a superscript IPA letter.^[1]

Features

Features of the voiceless alveolo-palatal 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 alveolo-palatal. This means that:
- Its place of articulation is postalveolar, meaning that the tongue contacts the roof of the mouth in the area behind the alveolar ridge (the gum line).
- Its tongue shape is laminal, meaning that it is the tongue blade that contacts the roof of the mouth.
- It is heavily palatalized, meaning that the middle of the tongue is bowed and raised towards the hard palate.
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

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Catalan^[2]	All dialects	fletxa	[ˈfɫet͡ɕɐ]	'arrow'	See Catalan phonology
Catalan^[2]	Valencian	xec	[ˈt͡ɕek]	'cheque'	See Catalan phonology
Chinese	Cantonese	豬 / Yale: jyū / Jyutping: zyu¹	[t͡ɕyː˥]^ⓘ	'pig'	Contrasts with aspirated form. Allophone of /t͡s/, usually in front of the front high vowels /iː/, /ɪ/, /yː/. See Cantonese phonology
Chinese	Mandarin	北京 / Běijīng	[peɪ˨˩ t͡ɕiŋ˥]^ⓘ	'Beijing'	Contrasts with aspirated form. Pronounced by some speakers as a palatalized dental. In complementary distribution with [t͡s], [k], and [ʈ͡ʂ] series. See Standard Chinese phonology
Chuvash		чипер/çiper	[t͡ɕi'p̬ɛr]	'cute'
Danish^[3]		tjener	[ˈt͡ɕeːnɐ]	'servant'	Normal realization of the sequence /tj/.^[3] See Danish phonology
Dzongkha		ཆུ / chuu	[t͡ɕuː]	'water'
Irish	Some dialects^[4]^[5]^[6]	tír	[t͡ɕiːɾʲ]	'country'	Realization of the palatalized alveolar stop /tʲ/ in dialects such as Erris, Teelin and Tourmakeady.^[4]^[5]^[6] See Irish phonology
Japanese		知人/chijin	[t͡ɕiʑĩɴ]	'acquaintance'	See Japanese phonology
Korean		제비/jebi	[t͡ɕebi]	'swallow'	See Korean phonology
Marathi		चिंच/çinç	[t͡ɕint̪s]	'tamarind'	Contrasts with aspirated form. Allophone of [tʃ] and [t̪s].See Marathi phonology
Okinawan		'ucinaaguci	[ʔut͡ɕinaːɡut͡ɕi]	'Okinawan language'	Merged with [ts].
Polish^[7]		ćma	[t͡ɕmä]^ⓘ	'moth'	See Polish phonology
Romanian	Banat dialect^[8]	frate	[ˈfrat͡ɕe]	'brother'	One of the most distinct phonological features of the Banat dialect: allophone of /t/ before front vowels. Corresponds to [t] in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology
Russian		чуть/čuť	[t͡ɕʉtʲ]	'barely'	See Russian phonology
Sema^[9]		akichi	[à̠kìt͡ɕì]	'mouth'	Possible allophone of /t͡ʃ/ before /i, e/; can be realized as [t͡ʃ] instead.^[9]
Serbo-Croatian^[10]		лећа/leća	[lět͡ɕä]	'lentils'	Merges into /t͡ʃ/ in dialects that do not distinguish /ʈ͡ʂ/ from /t͡ɕ/.
Slovene	Dialects with tʼ–č distinction (such as Resian)	teči	[ˈt̪ɛ̀ːt͡ɕì]	'con artist'	In Standard Slovene obsolete. See Slovene phonology
Sorbian	Lower^[11]	šćit	[ɕt͡ɕit̪]	'protection'
Swedish	Finland	kjol	[t͡ɕuːl]	'skirt'	See Swedish phonology
Thai^[12]		จาน/čán	[t͡ɕaːn]	'dish'	Contrasts with aspirated form.
Urarina^[13]		katsa	[kat͡ɕá]	'man'
Uzbek^[14]		^{[example needed]}
Vietnamese		cha	[t͡ɕa]	'father'	See Vietnamese phonology
Xumi^[15]^[16]		[t͡ɕɐ˦]		'star'
Yi		ꏢ/ji	[t͡ɕi˧]	'sour'	Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms

Notes

^ Miller, Kirk; Ashby, Michael (2020-11-08). "L2/20-252R: Unicode request for IPA modifier-letters (a), pulmonic" (PDF).
^ Wheeler (2005:12)
^ ^a ^b Grønnum (2005:148)
^ ^a ^b Mhac an Fhailigh (1968:36–37)
^ ^a ^b Wagner (1959:9–10)
^ ^a ^b de Búrca (1958:24–25)
^ Jassem (2003:105)
^ Pop (1938), p. 29.
^ ^a ^b Teo (2014:24)
^ Landau et al. (1999), p. 67.
^ Zygis (2003), pp. 180–181.
^ Tingsabadh & Abramson (1993:24)
^ Olawsky (2006), p. 39.
^ Sjoberg (1963:12)
^ Chirkova & Chen (2013), p. 365.
^ Chirkova, Chen & Kocjančič Antolík (2013), p. 382.

References

Chirkova, Katia; Chen, Yiya (2013), "Xumi, Part 1: Lower Xumi, the Variety of the Lower and Middle Reaches of the Shuiluo River" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (3): 363–379, doi:10.1017/S0025100313000157^{[permanent dead link]}
Chirkova, Katia; Chen, Yiya; Kocjančič Antolík, Tanja (2013), "Xumi, Part 2: Upper Xumi, the Variety of the Upper Reaches of the Shuiluo River" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (3): 381–396, doi:10.1017/S0025100313000169^{[permanent dead link]}
de Búrca, Seán (1958), The Irish of Tourmakeady, Co. Mayo, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, ISBN 0-901282-49-9
Grønnum, Nina (2005), Fonetik og fonologi, Almen og Dansk (3rd ed.), Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag, ISBN 87-500-3865-6
Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (1): 103–107, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001191
Mhac an Fhailigh, Éamonn (1968), The Irish of Erris, Co. Mayo, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, ISBN 0-901282-02-2
Olawsky, Knut J. (2006), A Grammar of Urarina, Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter, ISBN 9783110190205
Pavlík, Radoslav (2004), "Slovenské hlásky a medzinárodná fonetická abeceda" (PDF), Jazykovedný časopis, 55: 87–109
Pop, Sever (1938), Micul Atlas Linguistic Român, Muzeul Limbii Române Cluj
Sjoberg, Andrée F. (1963), Uzbek Structural Grammar, Uralic and Altaic Series, vol. 18, Bloomington: Indiana University
Teo, Amos B. (2014), A phonological and phonetic description of Sumi, a Tibeto-Burman language of Nagaland (PDF), Canberra: Asia-Pacific Linguistics, ISBN 978-1-922185-10-5
Tingsabadh, M.R. Kalaya; Abramson, Arthur S. (1993), "Thai", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 23 (1): 24–26, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004746, S2CID 242001518
Wagner, Heinrich (1959), Gaeilge Theilinn (in Irish), Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, ISBN 1-85500-055-5
Wheeler, Max W. (2005), The Phonology of Catalan, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-925814-7
Zygis, Marzena (2003), "Phonetic and Phonological Aspects of Slavic Sibilant Fricatives", ZAS Papers in Linguistics, 3: 175–213, doi:10.21248/zaspil.32.2003.191
Landau, Ernestina; Lončarića, Mijo; Horga, Damir; Škarić, Ivo (1999), "Croatian", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 66–69, ISBN 978-0-521-65236-0

External links

List of languages with [tɕ] on PHOIBLE

International Phonetic Alphabet (chart)

IPA topics

IPA	International Phonetic Association History of the alphabet Extensions for disordered speech (extIPA) Voice Quality Symbols (VoQS) Journal of the IPA (JIPA)
Special topics	Cursive forms Case variants Obsolete and nonstandard symbols Naming conventions Sinological extensions World Orthography IPA chart for English dialects
Encodings	ASCII encodings SAMPA X-SAMPA Kirshenbaum TIPA Phonetic symbols in Unicode IPA number IPA Braille

Consonants

Pulmonic consonants

Place →	Labial					Coronal										Dorsal					Laryngeal
Manner ↓	Bilabial		Labiodental		Linguolabial		Dental		Alveolar		Postalveolar		Retroflex		Palatal		Velar		Uvular		Pharyngeal/epiglottal		Glottal
Nasal	m̥	m	ɱ̊	ɱ		n̼			n̥	n			ɳ̊	ɳ	ɲ̊	ɲ	ŋ̊	ŋ	ɴ̥	ɴ
Plosive	p	b	p̪	b̪	t̼	d̼			t	d			ʈ	ɖ	c	ɟ	k	ɡ	q	ɢ	ʡ		ʔ
Sibilant affricate									ts	dz	t̠ʃ	d̠ʒ	tʂ	dʐ	tɕ	dʑ
Non-sibilant affricate	pɸ	bβ	p̪f	b̪v			t̪θ	d̪ð	tɹ̝̊	dɹ̝	t̠ɹ̠̊˔	d̠ɹ̠˔			cç	ɟʝ	kx	ɡɣ	qχ	ɢʁ	ʡʜ	ʡʢ	ʔh
Sibilant fricative									s	z	ʃ	ʒ	ʂ	ʐ	ɕ	ʑ
Non-sibilant fricative	ɸ	β	f	v	θ̼	ð̼	θ	ð	θ̠	ð̠	ɹ̠̊˔	ɹ̠˔	ɻ̊˔	ɻ˔	ç	ʝ	x	ɣ	χ	ʁ	ħ	ʕ	h	ɦ
Approximant				ʋ						ɹ				ɻ		j		ɰ						ʔ̞
Tap/flap		ⱱ̟		ⱱ		ɾ̼			ɾ̥	ɾ			ɽ̊	ɽ						ɢ̆		ʡ̆
Trill	ʙ̥	ʙ							r̥	r			ɽ̊r̥	ɽr					ʀ̥	ʀ	ʜ	ʢ
Lateral affricate									tɬ	dɮ			tꞎ	d𝼅	c𝼆	ɟʎ̝	k𝼄	ɡʟ̝
Lateral fricative									ɬ	ɮ			ꞎ	𝼅	𝼆	ʎ̝	𝼄	ʟ̝
Lateral approximant										l				ɭ		ʎ		ʟ		ʟ̠
Lateral tap/flap									ɺ̥	ɺ			𝼈̥	𝼈		ʎ̆		ʟ̆

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Symbols to the right in a cell are voiced, to the left are voiceless. Shaded areas denote articulations judged impossible.

Non-pulmonic consonants

		BL	LD	D	A	PA	RF	P	V	U	EG
Ejective	Stop	pʼ			tʼ		ʈʼ	cʼ	kʼ	qʼ	ʡʼ
	Affricate		p̪fʼ	t̪θʼ	tsʼ	t̠ʃʼ	tʂʼ		kxʼ	qχʼ
	Fricative	ɸʼ	fʼ	θʼ	sʼ	ʃʼ	ʂʼ	ɕʼ	xʼ	χʼ
	Lateral affricate				tɬʼ			c𝼆ʼ	k𝼄ʼ	q𝼄ʼ
	Lateral fricative				ɬʼ
Click (top: velar; bottom: uvular)	Tenuis	kʘ qʘ		kǀ qǀ	kǃ qǃ		k𝼊 q𝼊	kǂ qǂ
	Voiced	ɡʘ ɢʘ		ɡǀ ɢǀ	ɡǃ ɢǃ		ɡ𝼊 ɢ𝼊	ɡǂ ɢǂ
	Nasal	ŋʘ ɴʘ		ŋǀ ɴǀ	ŋǃ ɴǃ		ŋ𝼊 ɴ𝼊	ŋǂ ɴǂ	ʞ
	Tenuis lateral				kǁ qǁ
	Voiced lateral				ɡǁ ɢǁ
	Nasal lateral				ŋǁ ɴǁ
Implosive	Voiced	ɓ			ɗ		ᶑ	ʄ	ɠ	ʛ
Implosive	Voiceless	ɓ̥			ɗ̥		ᶑ̊	ʄ̊	ɠ̊	ʛ̥

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Co-articulated consonants

Labial–alveolar

Labial–velar

Fricative/approximant

ɥ̊

Labial–palatal

Labial–velar

Sj-sound (variable)

Lateral approximant

Velarized alveolar

Labial–velar

Labial–alveolar

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Other	Nasal labial–velar approximant [w̃] Nasal palatal approximant [j̃] Voiceless bidental fricative [h̪͆] Voiceless bilabially post-trilled dental stop [t̪ʙ̥] Voiceless nasal glottal approximant [h̃]