Affricated

Affricated is a term used in phonetics and linguistics to describe a consonant sound that begins as a stop consonant and is released as a fricative. This means the airflow is completely blocked for a moment, then released gradually with friction. The most common examples in English are the sounds represented by the letters 'ch' in "church" and 'j' in "judge".

These affricates are produced by stopping the airflow at the alveolar ridge (the bumpy part behind the teeth) or the palate (the roof of the mouth), then releasing it through a narrow constriction, creating turbulence and a hissing or buzzing sound characteristic of fricatives. The initial stop portion is typically unaspirated. The distinction between a stop followed by a fricative and a single affricate sound is phonological; in languages like English, these are considered single phonemes rather than two separate sounds.

Other languages also feature affricates. For instance, in Italian, the sounds represented by 'zz' in "pizza" (voiceless) and 'gl' in "aglio" (voiced, palatal) can be affricated. The precise phonetic realization and the phonemic status of affricates vary significantly across the world's languages. Analyzing affricates helps linguists understand the complex ways humans produce and perceive speech sounds.