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Consonantal sound represented by ⟨ħ⟩ in IPA From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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⟩.
Voiceless pharyngeal fricative | |||
---|---|---|---|
ħ | |||
IPA Number | 144 | ||
Audio sample | |||
Encoding | |||
Entity (decimal) | ħ | ||
Unicode (hex) | U+0127 | ||
X-SAMPA | X\ | ||
Braille | |||
|
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, Western Neo-Aramaic, Central Neo-Aramaic , Ge'ez, Tigre, Tigrinya as well as Biblical, Mishnaic and Mizrahi Hebrew. It has also been reconstructed as appearing in Ancient Egyptian, a related Afro-Asiatic language. Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, Ashkenazi Hebrew and most speakers of Modern Hebrew have 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/تحە | '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' | ||
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'/حېبېض | [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 Galician phonology and gheada |
Hebrew | Mizrahi | חַשְׁמַל/ḥašmal | 'electricity' | Merged with [χ] for most modern speakers. See Modern Hebrew phonology. | |
Temani | אֶחָדֿ/aḥoḏ | [æˈħɔð] | 'one' | Yemenite pronunciation of the letter chet. Merged with /χ/ in most other dialects. See Yemenite Hebrew | |
Judaeo-Spanish | Haketia | Ḥaketía | [ħakeˈti.a] | 'Haketia' | Borrowed from Arabic and Hebrew |
Kabardian | кхъухь/ꝗvɦ/ٯّوح | '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 | ||
Tarifit | ḥemm/ⵀⵎ | [ħem] | 'goodbye' | ||
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 |
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