T + Y = CH

30 Mar 2026 · 0 min

Watch on YouTube

0:23

In this short instructional segment, linguist Hadar Shemesh demonstrates how the English consonant cluster /t/ followed by the palatal approximant /j/ merges into the affricate /tʃ/. Using repeated examples such as “don’t you” and its colloquial reduction “don’tcha,” she shows that speakers often replace the two separate sounds with a single /tʃ/ sound. The explanation highlights the phonetic process of coalescence, the articulatory shift from a stop plus glide to an affricate, and provides clear spoken illustrations of the rule in action.