Wikipedia

Voiced glottal fricative

"H with hook" redirects here; not to be confused with H with left hook or Heng (letter). For the variant of this letter with a bottom hook (ɧ), see Sj-sound. For consonants followed by superscript ʱ, see breathy voice.

A voiced glottal fricative, sometimes called a breathy-voiced glottal transition, is a type of sound used in some spoken languages. It is used by some English-speakers as the "h" sound in "ahead". The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɦ⟩.

Voiced glottal fricative
ɦ
IPA number147
Audio sample
Encoding
Entity (decimal)ɦ
Unicode (hex)U+0266
X-SAMPAh\
Braille⠦ (braille pattern dots-236) ⠓ (braille pattern dots-125)
Voiced glottal approximant
ɦ̞

A [ɦ] sound may have real glottal constriction in a number of languages (such as Finnish[1]), making it a true fricative. However, in most languages that have it, it only patterns like a fricative or approximant phonologically, and lacks the usual phonetic characteristics of a consonant. In such languages, [ɦ] has no inherent place or manner of articulation. Thus it has been described as a breathy-voiced counterpart of the following vowel from a phonetic point of view. However, its characteristics are also influenced by the preceding vowels and whatever other sounds surround it. Therefore, it can be described as a segment whose only consistent feature is its breathy voice phonation in such languages.[2]

Northern Wu languages such as Shanghainese contrast voiced and voiceless glottal fricatives.[3][full citation needed] The two glottal fricatives pattern like plosives.[4][5][clarification needed]

Features

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Features of a voiced glottal fricative:

  • Its phonation is breathy voiced, or murmured, which means the vocal cords are loosely vibrating, with more air escaping than in a modally voiced sound. It is sometimes referred to as a "voiced h", but this is something of a misnomer, as there is no voicing in the usual sense; "breathy voiced" or "murmured" are preferred terms.[6]
  • In some languages, it has the constricted manner of articulation of a fricative. However, in many if not most it is a transitional state of the glottis with no manner of articulation other than its phonation type. Because there is no other constriction to produce friction in the vocal tract, most phoneticians no longer consider [ɦ] to be a fricative. True fricatives may have a murmured phonation in addition to producing friction elsewhere. However, the term "fricative" is generally retained for the historical reasons.
  • It may have a glottal place of articulation. However, it may have no fricative articulation, making the term glottal mean that it is articulated by the vocal folds, but this is the nature of its phonation rather than a separate articulation. All consonants except for the glottals, and all vowels, have an individual place of articulation in addition to the state of the glottis. As with all other consonants, surrounding vowels influence the pronunciation [ɦ], and accordingly [ɦ] has only the place of articulation of these surrounding vowels.
  • It is an oral consonant, which means that air is not allowed to escape through the nose.
  • Because the sound is not produced with airflow over the tongue, the median–lateral dichotomy does not apply.
  • Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air only with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

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LanguageWordIPAMeaningNotes
AfrikaansStandardhoe[ɦu]ⓘ'how'
AzeriStandardmöhkəm / مؤحکم[mœːɦcæm]'solid'
Albanian Northern Tosk[7] dhe menjëherë udhëtari [ðɛ miɲɜˈɦɛɹoθˈtaɽ̞i] 'and immediately the traveller' Occasional allophone of /h/ in connected speech.
BasqueNortheastern dialects[8]hemen[ɦemen]'here'Can be voiceless [h] instead.
CroatianSome speakershajde'lets go'
Czechhost[ˈɦo̞st]ⓘ'guest'See Czech phonology
Danish[9]Mon det har regnet?[- te̝ ɦɑ -]'I wonder if it has rained.'Common allophone of /h/ between vowels.[9] See Danish phonology
Dutch[10]gehoopt[χ᫈əˈɦoːpt]ⓘ'hoped'Lenis glottal consonant undefined for voicing. See Dutch phonology
EnglishAustralian[11]behind[bəˈɦɑe̯nd]'behind'Allophone of /h/ between voiced sounds.[11][12] See Australian English phonology and English phonology
Received Pronunciation[12][bɪˈɦaɪ̯nd]
Broad South Africanhand[ˈɦɛn̪t̪]'hand'Some speakers, only before a stressed vowel.
Estonianraha[ˈrɑɦɑ]'money'Allophone of /h/ between voiced sounds. See Estonian phonology and Finnish phonology
Finnish
FrenchQuebec[13]manger[mãɦe]'to eat'Allophone of /ʒ/ for a limited minority of speakers. Can also be realized as a voiceless [h].
Hebrewמַהֵר[mäɦe̞ʁ]ⓘ'fast'Occurs as an allophone of /h/ between voiced sounds. See Modern Hebrew phonology
Hindustaniहूँ / ہوں[ɦũː]'am'See Hindustani phonology
HungarianSome speakerstehát[tɛɦaːt]ⓘ'so'Intervocalic allophone of /h/. Occurs as voiceless /h/ for other speakers. See Hungarian phonology
JapaneseSome speakers少し話して / sukoshi hanashite[14][sɯkoɕi ɦanaɕi̥te]'speak a little bit'
IndonesianSome speakersbahan[baˈɦan]'ingredient'
Kalabari[15]hóín[ɦóĩ́]'introduction'
Korean여행 / yeohaeng[jʌɦεŋ]'travel'Occurs as an allophone of /h/ between voiced sounds. See Korean phonology
Limburgish[16][17]hart[ɦɑ̽ʀ̝t]'heart'The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect. See Maastrichtian dialect phonology
Lithuanianhumoras[ˈɦʊmɔrɐs̪]'humour'Often pronounced instead of [ɣ]. See Lithuanian phonology
Marathiहार[ɦaːɾ]'garland'
Odiaହଳ/haḷa[ɦɔɭɔ]'plough'
Nepaliहल[ɦʌl]'solution'See Nepali phonology
Parkari Koliۿُونَواڙ[ɦuːnaʋaːɽ]'desolate, deserted'
PolishPodhale dialecthydrant[ˈɦɘ̟d̪rän̪t̪]'fire hydrant'Contrasts with /x/. Standard Polish possesses only /x/. See Polish phonology
Kresy dialect
PortugueseMany Brazilian dialectsesse rapaz[ˈesi ɦaˈpajs]'this youth' (m.)Allophone of /ʁ/. [h, ɦ] are marginal sounds to many speakers, particularly out of Brazil. See Portuguese phonology and guttural R
Many speakershashi[ɦɐˈʃi]'chopsticks'
Some Brazilian[18][19] dialectsmesmo[ˈmeɦmu]'same'Corresponds to either /s/ or /ʃ/ (depending on dialect) in the syllable coda. Might also be deleted.
Cearense dialect[20]gente[ˈɦẽt͡ʃi]'people'Debuccalized from [ʒ], [v] or [z].
Mineiro dialectdormir[doɦˈmi(h)]'to sleep'Before other voiced consonants, otherwise realized as [h].
Punjabiਹਵਾ / ہوا[ɦə̀ʋä̌ː]'air'
Riffian Berberhwa[ɦwæ]'to go down'
RomanianTransylvanian dialects[21]haină[ˈɦajnə]'coat'Corresponds to [h] in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology
Sanskrit हस्त / hasta [ˈɦɐs̪t̪ɐ] 'hand' See Sanskrit phonology
Sardinian Northern Logudorese Sardinian[22] alga / agha [ˈaɦɦa] 'garbage' It appears geminate after /l/, /r/, /s/ as an allophone of [ɣ] and before /a/, /o/, /u/, assimilating those etymological consonants, which remain in writing according to the standard.
Silesianhangrys[ˈɦaŋɡrɨs]'gooseberry'
Slovakhora[ˈɦɔ̝rä]ⓘ'mountain'See Slovak phonology
SloveneLittoral dialects[ˈɦɔra]This is a general feature of all Slovene dialects west of the Škofja Loka–Planina line. Corresponds to [ɡ] in other dialects. See Slovene phonology
Rovte dialects
Rosen Valley dialect
Sylhetiꠢꠥꠐꠇꠤ / হুটকি[ɦuʈki]'dried fish'
Teluguహల్లు[ɦəlːu]'Consonant'
Ukrainianголос[ˈɦʷɔ̝ːlˤɘs]ⓘ'voice'Also described as pharyngeal [ʕ][citation needed]. See Ukrainian phonology
WuShanghainese閒話 / ghe-gho[ɦɛ˩ ɦo˦]'language'See Northern Wu phonology
Suzhounese四號 / sy5-ghau6[sz̩˥˩ ɦæ˧˩]'fourth day of a Western month'
Zuluihhashi[iːˈɦaːʃi]'horse'

Nasal

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Nasalized voiced glottal approximant
ɦ̃

A nasalized voiced glottal fricative or approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɦ̃⟩. Swazi distinguishes /h, h̃, ɦ, ɦ̃/.

Occurrence

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LanguageWordIPAMeaningNotes
BasqueZuberoan[23] ihitz [ĩˈɦ̃ĩt͡s̻] 'dew, frost' Phonemic[23]
Umbundu[24] [example needed] Contrasts with /h/[24]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ↑ Laufer (1991:91)
  2. ↑ Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:325–326)
  3. ↑ Qian 2003, pp.14-16.
  4. ↑ Gu, Qin (2008). "最新派上海市区方言语音的研究分析" [A Study and Analysis on the Phonology of Newest Period Urban Shanghainese]. 东方语言学 (2). Shanghai Normal University.
  5. ↑ Koenig, Laura L.; Shi, Lu-Feng (2014). "3aSC18: Measures of spectral tilt in Shanghainese stops and glottal fricatives". The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. Providence. doi:10.1121/1.4877532.
  6. ↑ Ladefoged, Peter; Keith, Johnson (2011). A course in phonetics (Sixth ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth Publishing. p. 149. ISBN 9781428231269. OCLC 613523782.
  7. ↑ Coretta, Stefano; Riverin-Coutlée, Josiane; Kapia, Enkeleida; Nichols, Stephen (n.d.). "Northern Tosk Albanian". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 53 (3): 1122–1144. doi:10.1017/S0025100322000044. hdl:20.500.11820/ebce2ea3-f955-4fa5-9178-e1626fbae15f. ISSN 0025-1003.
  8. ↑ Hualde & Ortiz de Urbina (2003:24)
  9. 1 2 Grønnum (2005:125)
  10. ↑ Gussenhoven (1992:45)
  11. 1 2 Cox & Fletcher (2017:159)
  12. 1 2 Roach (2004:241)
  13. ↑ April (2007)
  14. ↑ Arai, Warner & Greenberg (2007), p. 47.
  15. ↑ Harry (2003:113)
  16. ↑ Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999:155)
  17. ↑ Verhoeven (2007:219)
  18. ↑ The pronunciation of /s/ and its variations across Bragança municipality's Portuguese (in Portuguese), Pará Federal University, archived from the original on 2013-07-07
  19. ↑ The variation of post-vocallic /S/ in the speech of Petrópolis, Itaperuna and Paraty (PDF) (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro Federal University, archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-12-15
  20. ↑ "A neutralização dos Fonemas / v – z - Z / No Falar de Fortalexa" (PDF). profala.ufc.br. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
  21. ↑ Pop (1938), p. 30.
  22. ↑ Casiddu, Leonarda (1998). La Lingua del Mondo Agropastorale di Ittiri [The Language of the Agro-Pastoral World of Ittiri] (in Italian). Sassari: Edizioni Il Rosello. pp. 42, 44.
  23. 1 2 Egurtzegi, Ander (2015-06-30). "Different distributions of contrastive vowel nasalization in Basque". Loquens. 2 (1): e017. doi:10.3989/loquens.2015.017. ISSN 2386-2637. Also: "Different distributions of contrastive vowel nasalization in Basque". Retrieved 2025-09-15 – via ResearchGate.
  24. 1 2 Garellek, Marc; Chai, Yuan; Huang, Yaqian; Van Doren, Maxine (19 July 2021). "Voicing of glottal consonants and non-modal vowels". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 53 (2): 309. doi:10.1017/S0025100321000116. ISSN 0025-1003. Also preprint. UCSD.

References

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