Voiceless pharyngeal fricative | |||
---|---|---|---|
ħ | |||
IPA Number | 144 | ||
Audio sample | |||
Encoding | |||
Entity (decimal) | ħ | ||
Unicode (hex) | U+0127 | ||
X-SAMPA | X\ | ||
Braille | |||
|
The voiceless pharyngeal fricative is a type of
consonantal sound, used in some
spoken
languages. The symbol in the
International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is an
h-bar, ⟨ħ⟩, and the equivalent
X-SAMPA symbol is X\
. In the transcription of Arabic, Berber (and other
Afro-Asiatic languages) as well as a few other scripts, it is often written ⟨Ḥ⟩, ⟨ḥ⟩.
Typically characterized as fricative in the upper pharynx, it is often characterized as a whispered [ h].
Features of the voiceless pharyngeal fricative:
This sound is the most commonly cited realization of the Semitic letter hēth, which occurs in all dialects of Arabic, Classical Syriac, as well as Biblical and Tiberian Hebrew but only a minority of speakers of Modern Hebrew. It has also been reconstructed as appearing in Ancient Egyptian, a related Afro-Asiatic language. Modern non- Oriental Hebrew has merged the voiceless pharyngeal fricative with the voiceless velar (or uvular) fricative. However, phonetic studies have shown that the so-called voiceless pharyngeal fricatives of Semitic languages are often neither pharyngeal (but rather epiglottal) nor fricatives (but rather approximants). [1]
Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Abaza | хIахъвы/kh'akh"vy | [ħaqʷə] | 'stone' | ||
Abkhaz | ҳара/khara | [ħaˈra] | 'we' | See Abkhaz phonology | |
Adyghe | тхьэ/tkh'ė | ⓘ | 'god' | ||
Agul | мухI/mukh' | [muħ] | 'barn' | ||
Amis [2] | tuduh | [tuɮuħ] | 'burn, roast' | Word-final allophone of / ʜ/. | |
Arabic [3] | حال/ḥal | ⓘ | 'situation' | See Arabic phonology | |
Essaouira [4] | شلوح (šlūḥ) | [ʃlɵːħ] | ' chleuh' | ||
حمار (ḥimar) | |||||
Archi | хIал/kh'al | [ħal] | 'state' | ||
Central Neo-Aramaic | Turoyo | ܡܫܝܚܐ (mšìḥo) | [mʃiːħɔ] | 'Christ' | Corresponds with [x] in most other dialects. |
Atayal | hiyan | [ħijan] | 'in/at/on him/her/it' | ||
Avar | xIебецI/kh'ebets' | [ħeˈbetsʼ] | 'earwax' | ||
Azerbaijani | əhdaş | [æħd̪ɑʃ] | 'instrument' | ||
Chechen | xьач/ẋaç/حـاچ | ⓘ | 'plum' | ||
English | Some speakers, mostly of Received Pronunciation [5] | horrible | [ħɒɹɪbəl] | 'horrible' | Glottal [ h] for other speakers. [5] See English phonology |
French [6] | Some speakers | faire | [feː(ă)ħ] | 'to do, to make' | |
Galician [7] | Some dialects | gato | [ˈħatʊ] | 'cat' | Corresponds to /ɡ/ in other dialects. See gheada |
Hebrew | Mizrahi | חַשְׁמַל/ḥašmal | ⓘ | 'electricity' | Merged with [ χ] for most modern speakers. See Modern Hebrew phonology. |
Kabardian | кхъухь/ꝗvɦ/ڨوح | ⓘ | 'ship' | ||
Kabyle | ⴰⵃⴻⴼⴼⴰⴼ/ aḥeffaf/ احـفاف | [aħəfːaf] | 'hairdresser' | ||
Kullui | [biːħ] | 'twenty' | /ħ/ historically derives from /s/ and occurs word-finally [8] | ||
Kurdish | Most speakers | ḧol | ⓘ | 'environment' | Corresponds to /h/ in some Kurdish dialects |
Maltese | Standard | wieħed | [wiːħet] | 'one' | |
Nuu-chah-nulth | ʔaap-ḥii | [ʔaːpˈħiː] | 'friendly' | ||
Sioux | Nakota | haxdanahâ | [haħdanahã] | 'yesterday' | |
Somali | xood/حٗـود/𐒄𐒝𐒆 | ⓘ | 'cane' | See Somali phonology | |
Ukrainian [9] | нігті/nihti | [ˈnʲiħtʲi] | 'fingernails' | Allophone of /ʕ/ (which may be transcribed /ɦ/) before voiceless consonants; [9] can be fronted to [ x] in some "weak positions". [9] See Ukrainian phonology |