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Unvoiced palato-alveolar affricate
Voiceless postalveolar affricate Voiceless postalveolar affricate Voiceless postalveolar affricate In English, both in Received Pronunciation and in General American, the IPA phonetic symbol /tʃ/ corresponds to the initial consonant sound in words like “check", and the final one in “catch.”
Strict IPA emphasises the fact that /tʃ/ is one phoneme: "teacher" is /ˈtiːt͡ʃər/ and "hotshot" is /ˈhɒtʃɒt/. The alternative is to use the syllable separator: /ˈtiː.tʃər/ and /ˈhɒt.ʃɒt/.
/tʃ/ is an unvoiced consonant; its voiced counterpart is IPA phoneme /dʒ/.
/tʃ/ is an affricate; its fricative counterpart is IPA phoneme /ʃ/.
Common words[edit | edit source]
- Initial pronunciation of /tʃ/
- As “ch": chain - chair - challenge - champion - chance - change - channel - chapter - charge - chart - chat - cheap - cheat - check - cheese - chess - chief - child - China - choice - choose - church
- Final pronunciation of /tʃ/
- As “ch": approach - beach - branch - church - coach - each - launch - lunch - much - reach - research - rich - search - speech - such - teach - touch - which
- As "tch": attach - batch - catch - match - sketch - stretch - switch - watch
- Pronunciation of /tʃ/ in "mid"-position
- As “ch": achieve - exchange - purchase - Richard - teacher
- As "tch": butcher - kitchen
- As "tu": adventure - culture - feature - fortunate - furniture - future - picture - natural - situation
- As "ti": suggestion - question
Uncommon words[edit | edit source]
- As "tch": ditch - hitch - itch - pitch - slitch - switch - twitch - unhitch[1]
- righteous /ˈraɪtʃəs/
- wretched /ˈretʃɪd/
- with 'c': cello - concerto - cappuccino - capriccio
- Spelling anomaly
- Czech /tʃek/
Homophones[edit | edit source]
- check - cheque - Czech; which - witch
/t/+/ʃ/[edit | edit source]
/t/ and /ʃ/ can be two separate phonemes. For example, the pronunciation of "nutshell" is /ˈnʌt.ʃel/ and "nature" is pronounced /ˈneɪ.t͡ʃər/.
Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1[edit | edit source]
Preconceived ideas and other interferences from L1 obviously interfere in many cases with how students perceive - and pronounce - sounds/words in English. The following sections aims to point out some of the most typical difficulties teachers and students may encounter regarding pronunciation.
Spanish[edit | edit source]
In Spanish the letters "ll" and "y" sound similar to /dʒ/, /ʒ/ or /j/. The sound of these letters is never in final position. For this reason many students will "hear" /tʃ/ in words like orange or judge.
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ See the lyrics of Munchkinland in The Wizard of Oz. Wendy’s Wizard of Oz, Munchkinland.