A voiceless retroflex sibilant affricate is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is or , often simplified to . There is also a ligature , which has been retired by the International Phonetic Association but is still used. In Americanist tradition, where is used to transcribe the affricate , the letter has sometimes been used to transcribe the affricate referenced on this page.

A laminal variant occurs in Polish cz, and an apical variant in the Indo-Aryan languages.

Features Features of a voiceless retroflex affricate:

Occurrence The affricate occurs in a number of languages: Asturian: Speakers of the western dialects of this language use it instead of the voiced palatal fricative, writing ḷḷ instead of ll. Slavic languages: Polish, Belarusian, Old Czech, Serbo-Croatian; some speakers of Russian may use it instead of the voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate. a number of Northwest Caucasian languages have retroflex affricates that contrast in secondary articulations like labialization. Mandarin and other Sinitic languages. Language Word IPA Meaning Notes Abkhaz аҽада 'donkey' See Abkhaz phonology Adyghe 'tree' See Adyghe phonology Asturian Some dialects 'wolf' Corresponds to standard . Belarusian 'the beginning' Laminal. See Belarusian phonology Chinese Mandarin / 'Chinese language' Apical. Contrasts with aspirated form. See Mandarin phonology Hmong White Hmong / 'lion' or 'tiger'Khanty Eastern dialects 'knee' Corresponds to a voiceless retroflex fricative in the northern dialects. Southern dialects Mapudungun 'it got broken' Contrasts with a voiceless postalveolar affricate: 'he/she coughed' Northern Qiang 'day before yesterday' Contrasts with aspirated and voiced forms. Polish człowiek 'man' Laminal. See Polish phonology Quechua Cajamarca–Cañaris 'tail' Russian / luchshe 'better' Serbo-Croatian / 'cork' Apical. It may be palato-alveolar instead, depending on the dialect. See Serbo-Croatian phonologySilesian'pike' Slovak 'to wait' Laminal.Spanish Chilean cuatro [ 'four' Corresponding to in other dialects. Torwali 'to sew' Contrasts with aspirated form.Vietnamesetrà'tea'Some speakers. Yi ꍈ / zha 'a bit' Contrasts with aspirated form.

See also Index of phonetics articles

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