Voiced alveolar affricate

A voiced alveolar affricate is a type of affricate consonant pronounced with the tip or blade of the tongue against the alveolar ridge (gum line) just behind the teeth. There are several types of median affricates with significant perceptual differences:

• A voiced alveolar sibilant affricate [d͡z] is the most common type, similar to the ds in English lads.
• A voiced alveolar non-sibilant affricate [dð̠] – or [dð͇], using the alveolar diacritic from the Extended IPA, – is found, for example, in some dialects of English and Italian.
• A voiced retracted alveolar sibilant affricate [d͡z̺] or [d̠͡z̠].