So now we’re going to talk about affricates. If you remember what affricates are from my affricate blogpost, they are the combination of fricatives and stops.

On top of that, this next affricate utilizes a recently talked about sound - the voiceless palato-alveolar fricative /ʃ/.

This sound is the TCH-sound /tʃ/.

THE SOUND

The TCH-sound /tʃ/ is produced when air is blocked with tongue just beyond the alveolar ridge (post-alveolar), then released as a fricative. It is the combination of /t/ (a stop) and /ʃ/ (a fricative).

And so, you make the sound by combining what you do for the T-sound and SH-sound individually. Just in sequence.

Verbal cues

Start with the two sounds separately (T- and SH-). It is absolutely okay for there to be a delay in the pronunciation of one sound to the next. Focus on feeling the mouth placement and gradually reducing time lag between the T-sound and the SH-sound.

T......SHHH......

T....SHHH....

T..SHHH..

T.SHHH

TSHHH

TCHHH

Visual Cues

Remember the properties of a plosive and a fricative. A plosive is an explosion of energy built up behind a blockage. So it is a release of pressure behind the tongue.

Then the fricative is a constant stream of energy.

Tactile Cues

Since this is an affricate sound, it starts at the alveolar ridge to produce the T-sound component. Then your tongue shifts backwards in the mouth along the roof of the mouth to the post-alveolar position. You should feel the tongue move back slightly along the roof of your mouth

Again, because it is a voiceless sound, there should not be a buzzing sensation in your throat.

THE SOUND IN DIFFERENT POSITIONS.

Here's the sound in different positions of a word.

BEGINNING OF THE WORD - chick, Czech, choose, church, chess, chapter, cello,

MIDDLE OF THE WORD - catcher, butcher, adventure, acheive, exchange, question, suggestion, righteous, cappuccino

END OF THE WORD - catch, itch, linch, poach, peach

*NOTE - Notice how the TCH-sound is represented commonly by CH-, TCH-, TU-, TI-. However, it can also be represented by C-, CC- and CZ- as demonstrated in loanwords.

SITUATIONS THAT SEEM LIKE THE SOUND BUT AREN'T

When you see the TCH-letter combination, there is a strong chance you will produce the TCH sound. I think the more challenging aspect of this sound is recognizing when the TCH-sound is produced even when the TCH-letter combination isn’t present.

For example, knowing that ‘nature’ or ‘suggestion’. On top of that, depending on your pronunciation, some words can be pronounced with a TCH sound or not. For example, the word ‘niche’ can be pronounced NITCH or NEESH. The former option has the TCH-sound whereas the latter option does not.

WHY IT MAY BE HARD

The sound may be hard to pronounce for non-native English speakers who do not have affricates in their language. As a result, when learning the English affricate sounds, it may feel awkward to combine or say these two sounds quickly one after the other.

WHAT TO DO

So let's say you do have trouble with your TCH-sound. What can you do about it.

Well here are the features of the TCH-sound.

Place of articulation - Between your tongue tip and the alveolar ridge as well as the post-alveolar space. Remember this combination sound transitions from one position to the next.
Manner of articulation - Affrication. Airflow is initially obstructed and then released. Then, airflow is turbulent but continuous - like a whistle. It is turbulent because airflow is passing through a narrow passageway. The sound keeps coming out as long as you have air from the lungs to continue the airflow.
Voiced or unvoiced - voiceless (this means the vocal cords do not vibrate while producing the TCH-sound).

I’m breaking down every single sound down for you so that you can learn how to produce each sound in English accurately. Sometimes, we’ll have easier sounds and sometimes we’ll have harder sounds.

If you’ve grasped this sound, then great! But if you’ve got a tip that might work for others, or you took a while to produce this sound correct but something clicked for you, let me know down below in the comments. My goal is to have a community know what to do when they’re stuck!

The TCH-Sound