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. This refers to a class of sounds, not a single sound. There are several types with significant perceptual differences:

• The voiced alveolar sibilant affricate [d͡z] is the most common type, similar to the ds in English lads.
• The 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.
• The voiced alveolar retracted sibilant affricate [d͡z̺]