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Affricate facts for kids

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Affricates are consonants that are said with a stop with a fricative immediately afterwards. For example, the 'ch' sound in English (written as /t͡ʃ/ in IPA) is said with an 't' (/t/) sound with an 'sh' (/ʃ/) sound immediately afterwards. Both voiced and voiceless affricates exist; in English, they are /d͡ʒ/ (the 'j' sound) and t͡ʃ (the 'ch' sound) respectively.

Affricates in English
Voicing IPA Often written as letter(s)... Sample word in English Sample word in IPA
Voiceless affricate t͡ʃ ch chew /t͡ʃu/
Voiced d͡ʒ j Jew /d͡ʒu/

In Mandarin Chinese, affricates are told apart by aspiration, or breathiness, since voiced affricates do not exist; aspirated affricates, or breathy affricates, are /t͡ɕʰ/ (written as 'q' in Hanyu Pinyin), /t͡sʰ/ ('c'), and /ʈ͡ʂʰ/ ('ch'), and unaspirated affricates, or non-breathy affricates, are /t͡ɕ/ ('j'), /t͡s/ ('z'), and /ʈ͡ʂ/ ('zh').

Affricates in Mandarin Chinese
Aspiration Pinyin IPA Sample Chinese word Word meaning
Aspirated ch- /ʈ͡ʂʰ/ 炒 chǎo to fry
c- /t͡sʰ/ 草 cǎo grass / straw
q- /t͡ɕʰ/ 桥 qiáo bridge
Unaspirated zh- /ʈ͡ʂ/ zhào 找 to look for / to seek
z- /t͡s/ zǎo 早 morning
j- /t͡ɕ/ jiào 叫 to call (oneself)

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Consonante africada para niños

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