Voiced palato-alveolar affricate

The voiced palato-alveolar affricate, also described as voiced domed postalveolar affricate, is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The sound is transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet with $\langle\rangle$ (formerly the ligature $\langle\rangle$), or in broad transcription $\langle\rangle$, and the equivalent X-SAMPA representation is $\langledZ\rangle$. Alternatives commonly used in linguistic works, particularly in older or American literature, are $\langle\rangle$, $\langle\rangle$, $\langle\rangle$, and $\langle\rangle$. It is familiar to English speakers as the pronunciation of $\langlej\rangle$ in jump.

Some scholars use the symbol to transcribe the laminal variant of the voiced retroflex affricate. In such cases, the voiceless palato-alveolar sibilant is transcribed.