affricate (n.)

A term used in the classification of CONSONANT sounds on the basis of their MANNER OF ARTICULATION: it refers to a sound made when the air-pressure behind a complete CLOSURE in the VOCAL TRACT is gradually released; the initial RELEASE produces a PLOSIVE, but the separation which follows is sufficiently slow to produce audible friction, and there is thus a FRICATIVE element in the sound also. However, the DURATION of the friction is usually not as long as would be the case of an independent fricative sound. If it is very brief indeed, the term affrication is used; in some English DIALECTS, such as Cockney, affricated plosives may be heard, such as [t^s] and [d^z], the auditory brevity of the friction element being indicated in the TRANSCRIPTION by the small symbols. It is, then, the combination of plosion and friction which identifies an affricate. In English, only [t] and [d] are released in this way, as in  of chip and  of just. German examples are [pf-] pfennig, ‘penny’ and [ts] zu, ‘to’.

While affricates are PHONETICALLY easy to define, it is often a problem for PHONOLOGICAL analysis to decide whether a sequence of plosive and fricative elements constitutes a single functional unit, or is best analyzed as two separate units. English , for example, occurs initially, medially and finally in a word, readily contrasting with other PHONEMES, e.g. chip/sip, richer/ripper, patch/pat. On the other hand [tr], while occurring initially and medially (trip/sip, petrol/ petal), does not occur finally. Further, [tθ] only occurs finally (eighth/eight). Phonetically, all could be considered affricates; but, phonologically, there would be difference of opinion as to whether those with a restricted DISTRIBUTION could usefully be identified in this way.