phonology Phonology (formerly also phonemics or phonematics: "phonemics ''n.'' 'obsolescent''1. Any procedure for identifying the phonemes of a language from a corpus of data. 2. (formerly also phonematics) A former synonym for phonology, often pre ...

, the ts–ch merger is the

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

of the

voiceless alveolar affricate A voiceless 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 typ ...

and the

voiceless postalveolar affricate The voiceless palato-alveolar sibilant affricate or voiceless domed postalveolar sibilant affricate is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The sound is transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet with , , (formerly ...

. In

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

, it is the merger of the consonants rendered by letters Che and Tse. If the shift is towards Tse, it is called (); the shift towards Che is called (). It is a regular

sound change In historical linguistics, a sound change is a change in the pronunciation of a language. A sound change can involve the replacement of one speech sound (or, more generally, one phonetic feature value) by a different one (called phonetic chan ...

Lower Sorbian Lower may refer to: * ''Lower'' (album), 2025 album by Benjamin Booker *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is sit ...

, but not

Upper Sorbian Upper Sorbian (), occasionally referred to as Wendish (), is a minority language spoken by Sorbs in the historical province of Upper Lusatia, today part of Saxony, Germany. It is a West Slavic language, along with Lower Sorbian, Czech, Poli ...

, as seen in the difference between Lower Sorbian and Upper Sorbian , both meaning "time". In Polish the merger is part of a more general

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

al feature called (mazuration), present in many Polish dialects but named after the

Masovian dialect The Masovian dialect group (), also Mazovian, is a dialect group of the Polish language spoken in Mazovia and historically related regions, in northeastern Poland. It is the most distinct of the Polish dialects and the most expansive. Mazovian ...

.Stanislaw Gogolewski, "Dialectology in Poland, 1873-1997", In: ''Towards a History of Linguistics in Poland'', by E. F. K. Koerner, A. J. Szwedek (eds.) (2001)
p. 128
/ref> It also occurs in a few areas of the Chakavian dialect of

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...

, known as '' tsakavism''. The '' sabesdiker losn'' feature of Northeastern Yiddish includes the merger.

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

-speaking people may merge (and ) into (and ) when speaking foreign languages that contain those sounds.

References

Russian language Slavic phonological features Lower Sorbian language Serbo-Croatian language Yiddish {{phonology-stub