Deaffrication is the replacement of affricates by

• A. Replacing fricatives with affricates
• B. Replacing vowels with consonants
• C. Deleting nasals
• D. Replacing affricates with fricatives

Answer: (D)

Deaffrication is the process of replacing an affricate with a fricative. An affricate combines a brief stop release with a following fricative, and during deaffrication the stop portion is lost, leaving just a fricative sound. For example, [t͡ʃ] can become [ʃ], and [t͡s] can become [s]. This kind of change simplifies the consonant system by turning a two-part sound into a single, continuous fricative. The other described changes involve different processes—replacing fricatives with affricates would be the opposite direction, deleting nasals is a different pattern, and vowels turning into consonants is not about changing a consonant category at all.