Affricates
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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Affricates
consonants consisting of plosive (obstruent) and fricative elements; for example, Russian ts and ch. An affricate is a type of obstruent consonant the occlusion of which, when it is pronounced, does not terminate with the explosion of the plosive organs of speech but with their incomplete closure, which causes the formation of a fricative. Affricates are distinguished from combinations of plosive consonants with fricatives; compare Russian ch and tsh in the words ochutit’sia and otshutit’sia.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.