An affricate sound is a consonant sound that is a combination of a plosive sound followed immediately by a fricative sound produced with the same articulators. There are two affricate sounds in English: /tʃ/ as in "chip" and /dʒ/ as in "judge". Both involve an initial plosive sound (/t/ or /d/) followed by a fricative sound produced in the post-alveolar region. For a sound to be considered an affricate, the plosive and fricative components must be homorganic or use the same place of articulation in the vocal tract.

1. Affricate Sounds A further enquiries

2. Preliminary Perspective An Affricate is sound is, under a preliminary perspective, are a non-stop combination of sounds begun by a plosive (total stop of air causing an explotion) sound and immediatelt followed by a fricative (friction) sound.

3. Affricate Sounds of English There are two affricate sounds in english.

4. In this affricate sound, the first sound is / t / This sound is produced with the tip of the tongue placed in the alveolar ridge, The air flow is obstructed and the released, WITHOUT making the vocal fold vibrate. Immediately, the second sound is produced

5. The second sound is This sound is produced with the tip of the tongue in the post-alveolar region (a little behind the alveolar ridge). The air is let loose producing a hissing sound -It produces friction. The vocal folds don’t vibrate either.

6. First Stage: Source: http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/frameset.html

7. Second Stage: Source: http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/frameset.html

8. In the second affricate sound of English, the first sound is / d /. This sound is produced with the tip of the tongue placed in the alveolar ridge, The air flow is obstructed and the released, MAKING the vocal fold VIBRATE . Immediately, the second sound is produced

9. The second sound is This sound is produced with the tip of the tongue in the post-alveolar region (a little behind the alveolar ridge). The air is let loose producing a hissing sound -It produces friction. The vocal folds DO vibrate .

10. First Stage: Source: http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/frameset.html

11. Second Stage: Source: http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/frameset.html

12. Further Discussion Peter Roach in his book English phonetics and phonology: a practical course (Cambridge, 3rd edition, 2009) points out that not all the combination of plosive+fricative sounds are considered Affricate Sounds . It is said that these type of combinations need to be HOMORGANIC , that means, they must be produced with the same articulators . In this way the combination / ks / of the word ta x i is not considered an affricate because the sounds are not prouced with the same articulators

13. See: http://books.google.cl/books?id=u29ff2oIPk8C&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48&dq=what%27s+an+affricate+sound%3F+roach&source=bl&ots=56mem1aAZX&sig=gNL3zJzj-pswnZko_TqIB-3lZmQ&hl=es&ei=cQPiS_3oKYOY8ASmysTvAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false Pages 48-49 Here is a part of the book, copy and paste on the browser