Affricates, as well as stops, are producedby a complete closure of the vocal tract
at some point. However, the release of the closure of an affricate is slow
compared with that of a stop. There are three types of affricates:
the voiceless unaspirated
and ,
voiceless aspirated
and , and
voiced unaspirated
These are further divided
into the following groups, on the basis of the place of articulation.
Alveolar
The tip of the tongue
touches the upper teeth. The
and are
alveolar affricates.
Palato-alveolar
These are produced by
touching the blade of the tongue to the front part of the hard palate.
The release is very gradual. These sounds are similar to the initial sounds
in the Hindi-Urdu
'gait',
'skin', and
'net'.
Introduction
