Phonetically, affricates are consonants which begin with a plosive sound (a quick release of air following complete closure somewhere in the vocal tract) followed by homorganic audible friction. Sounds such as English <ch>, pronounced [tʃ], or Israeli <צ>, pronounced [ts], are affricates.
Although the phonetic definition of an affricate is clear, its phonological reality is less so. Since the work of Trubetzkoy and Martinet (see Martinet 1939), linguists have wondered how to distinguish true affricates, which are perceived as monophonem…