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

"Voiced dental affricate" redirects here. For the non-sibilant affricate, see Voiced dental non-sibilant affricate.

Voiced alveolar sibilant affricate
dz
ʣ
IPA number	104 133
Audio sample
source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ʣ
Unicode (hex)	U+02A3
X-SAMPA	dz
Image

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.^[1]
  • 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		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Armenian	Eastern[2]	ձուկ/dzuk	[d̻͡z̪uk]ⓘ	'fish'
Belarusian[3]		пэндзаль/pendzal	[ˈpɛn̪d̻͡z̪alʲ]	'paintbrush'	Contrasts with palatalized form. See Belarusian phonology
Czech[4]		Afgánec byl	[ˈävɡäːnɛd̻͡z̪ bɪɫ̪]	'an Afghan was'	Allophone of /t͡s/ before voiced consonants. See Czech phonology
Hungarian[5]		bodza	[ˈbod̻͡z̪ːɒ]	'elderberry'	See Hungarian phonology
Japanese		残念/zan'nen	[d͡zã̠nːẽ̞ɴ]	'regretful'	See Japanese phonology
Kashubian[6]		dze	[d͡ze]	'where'
Latvian[7]		drudzis	[ˈd̪rud̻͡z̪is̪]	'fever'	See Latvian phonology
Macedonian[8]		ѕвезда/dzvezda	[ˈd̻͡z̪ve̞z̪d̪ä]	'star'	See Macedonian phonology
Montenegrin[9]		dzindzula	[ˈd̻͡z̪inˈd̻͡z̪ulä]	'jujube'	See Montenegrin phonology
Pashto		ځوان	[d͡zwɑn]	'youth' 'young'	See Pashto phonology
Polish[10]		dzwon	[d̻͡z̪vɔn̪]ⓘ	'bell'	See Polish phonology
Russian[11]		плацдарм/placdarm	[pɫ̪ɐd̻͡z̪ˈd̪är̠m]	'bridgehead'	Allophone of /t͡s/ before voiced consonants. See Russian phonology
Serbo-Croatian[12]		otac bi	[ǒ̞t̪äd̻͡z̪ bi]	'father would'	Allophone of /t͡s/ before voiced consonants.[12] See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Slovak		medzi	[med͡zi]	'between'	See Slovak phonology
Slovene[13]		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		zat	[d͡zad]	'buffalo'
Ukrainian[14]		дзвін dzvin	[d̻͡z̪ʋin̪]	'bell'	Contrasts with palatalized form. See Ukrainian phonology
Upper Sorbian[15]		[example needed]			Allophone of /t͡s/ before voiced consonants.[15]

Non-retracted alveolar

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Arabic	Najdi[16]	قـليب/dzilīb	[d͡zəliːb]	'well'	Corresponds to /q/, /ɡ/, or /dʒ/ in other dialects.
English	Broad Cockney[17]	day	[ˈd͡zæˑɪ̯]	'day'	Possible word-initial, intervocalic and word-final allophone of /d/.[18][19] See English phonology
	Received Pronunciation[19]		[ˈd͡zeˑɪ̯]
	New York[20]				Possible syllable-initial and sometimes also utterance-final allophone of /d/.[20] See English phonology
	Scouse[21]				Possible syllable-initial and word-final allophone of /d/.[21] See English phonology
French	Quebec	du	[d͡zy]	'of the'	Allophone of /d/ before /i, y, j/.
Georgian[22]		ძვალი/dzvali	[d͡zvɑli]	'bone'
Luxembourgish[23]		spadséieren	[ʃpɑˈd͡zɜ̝ɪ̯əʀən]	'to go for a walk'	Marginal phoneme that occurs only in a few words.[23] See Luxembourgish phonology
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		jōnel	[d͡zoːnel]	'maize'
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		jūrol	[d͡zuːɾol]	'cricket'
Portuguese	European[24]	desafio	[d͡zɐˈfi.u]	'challenge'	Allophone of /d/ before /i, ĩ/, or assimilation due to the deletion of /i ~ ɨ ~ e/. Increasingly used in Brazil.[25]
	Brazilian[24][25]	aprendizado	[apɾẽ̞ˈd͡zadu]	'learning'
	Many speakers	mezzosoprano	[me̞d͡zo̞so̞ˈpɾɐ̃nu]	'mezzo-soprano'	Marginal sound. Some might instead use spelling pronunciations.[26] See Portuguese phonology
Romanian	Moldavian dialects[27]	zic	[d͡zɨk]	'say'	Corresponds to [z] in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology
Telugu		ౙత/dzata	[d͡zɐt̪ɐ]	'pair, set'
Teochew	Swatow	日本/jitpun	[d͡zit̚˨˩.pʊn˥˧]	'Japan'
Toda		üɀ	[yd͡z]	'five'

Retracted alveolar

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Catalan[28]		dotze	[ˈd̪odd̠͡z̠ə]	'twelve'	Apical. See Catalan phonology
Occitan	Gascon	messatge	[məˈs̠ːa̠d̠͡z̠ə]	'message'	Laminal in other dialects. Varies with [dʒ] in some words.
	Languedocien
Piedmontese		arvëdse	[ɑrˈvəd̠͡z̠e]	'goodbye'
Sardinian	Central dialects	pranzu	[ˈpränd̠͡z̠u]	'lunch'

Variable

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Greek[29]		τζάκι	[ˈd͡zɐc̠i]	'fireplace'	Varies between retracted and non-retracted, depending on the environment. Phonemically, it is a stop–fricative sequence.[29] See Modern Greek phonology
Italian[30]		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.[30] See Italian phonology
Montenegrin		dzavala	[ˈd̻͡z̪avalä]	'haystack'	Varies between dentalized laminal and sibilant affricate. See Montenegrin phonology
West Frisian[31]		skodzje	[ˈs̠kɔd͡zjə]	'shake'	Laminal; varies between retracted and non-retracted.[31] Phonemically, it is a stop–fricative sequence. The example word also illustrates [s̠]. See West Frisian phonology

Voiced alveolar non-sibilant affricate

Voiced alveolar non-sibilant affricate
dɹ̝
dð̠
dð͇
Audio sample
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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		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Dutch	Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect[32]	[example needed]			A possible realization of word-final, non-pre-pausal /r/.[32]
English	General American[33]	dream	[d͡ɹ̝ʷɪi̯m]	'dream'	Phonetic realization of the stressed, syllable-initial sequence /dr/; more commonly postalveolar [d̠͡ɹ̠˔].[33] See English phonology
	Received Pronunciation[33]
Italian	Sicily[34]	Adriatico	[äd͡ɹ̝iˈäːt̪iko]	'the Adriatic Sea'	Apical. It is a regional realization of the sequence /dr/, and can be realized as the sequence [dɹ̝] instead.[35] See Italian phonology

See also

• Voiced dental affricate
• List of phonetics topics