The voiceless glottal fricative, sometimes called voiceless glottal transition or the aspirate,[1][2] is a type of sound used in some spoken languages that patterns like a fricative or approximant consonant phonologically, but often lacks the usual phonetic characteristics of a consonant. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ?h?. However, [h] has been described as a voiceless phonation because in many languages, it lacks the place and manner of articulation of a prototypical consonant, as well as the height and backness of a prototypical vowel:
| Voiceless glottal fricative | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| h | |||
| h? | |||
| IPA number | 146 | ||
| Audio sample | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) | h | ||
| Unicode (hex) | U+0068 | ||
| X-SAMPA | h | ||
| Braille |  | ||
| |||
| Voiceless glottal phonation | |
|---|---|
| h | |
| Braille | |
| Voiceless glottal approximant | |
|---|---|
| h? | |
| Audio sample | |
[h and ?] have been described as voiceless or breathy voiced counterparts of the vowels that follow them [but] the shape of the vocal tract [...] is often simply that of the surrounding sounds. [...] Accordingly, in such cases it is more appropriate to regard h and ? as segments that have only a laryngeal specification, and are unmarked for all other features. There are other languages [such as Hebrew and Arabic] which show a more definite displacement of the formant frequencies for h, suggesting it has a [glottal] constriction associated with its production.[3]
An effort undertaken at the Kiel Convention in 1989 attempted to move glottal fricatives, both voiceless and voiced, to approximants.[4][5] The fricative may be represented with the extIPA diacritic for strong articulation, ?h??.
The Shanghainese language, among others, contrasts voiced and voiceless glottal fricatives.[6]
Features
editFeatures of the "voiceless glottal fricative":
- 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 or an approximant, with no manner of articulation other than its phonation type. Because there is no other constriction to produce friction in the vocal tract in the languages they are familiar with, many phoneticians[who?] no longer consider [h] to be a fricative. However, the term "fricative" is generally retained for historical reasons.
- It may have a glottal place of articulation. However, it may have no fricative articulation, in which case the term 'glottal' only refers to the nature of its phonation, and does not describe the location of the stricture nor the turbulence. 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 [h], and [h] has sometimes been presented as a voiceless vowel, having the place of articulation of these surrounding vowels.
- Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords. In some languages the vocal cords are actively separated, so it is always voiceless; in others the cords are lax, so that it may take on the voicing of adjacent sounds.
- It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
- Because the sound is not produced with airflow over the tongue, the central–lateral dichotomy does not apply.
- Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.
Occurrence
editFricative or transition
edit| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adyghe | Shapsug | хыгь/khyg' | [h?ɡ?] | 'now' | Corresponds to [x] in other dialects. |
| Afar | daháb | [d?h?b] | 'gold' | ||
| Albanian | hire | [?hi??][stress?] | 'the graces' | ||
| Aleut | hanix? | [?haniχ] | 'lake' | ||
| Arabic | Modern Standard[7] | ????/haa'il | [?ha???l] | 'enormous' | See Arabic phonology |
| Assyrian | Eastern | ??????? hèmanūta | [he?ma?nu?ta] | 'faith' | |
| Western | ???? harc? | [hεrc?] | 'here' | ||
| Armenian | Eastern[8] | ???????/hayeren | ? | 'Armenian language' | |
| Asturian | South-central dialects | ?uerza | [?hwe?θ?] | 'force' | F- becomes [h] before -ue/-ui in south-central dialects. May be also realized as [?, ?, ?, x, χ] |
| Eastern dialects | ?acer | [ha?θe?] | "to do" | F- becomes [h] in oriental dialects. May be also realized as [?, ?, ?, x, χ] | |
| All dialects | gua?e ?ispiar |
[?gwah?] [his?pja?] |
"kid" "to steal small quantities of something" |
Some words use ? in all dialects. | |
| Avar | гьа | [ha] | 'oath' | ||
| Azeri | hin | [h?n] | 'chicken coop' | ||
| Basque | North-Eastern dialects[9] | hirur | [hi?ur] | 'three' | Can be voiced [?] instead. |
| Bengali | ??????/haoua | [hao?a] | 'wind' | ||
| Berber | aherkus | [ah?rkus] | 'shoe' | ||
| Blackfoot[10] | [h??n?ja]
[h?n?] |
'really!' 'Finished' |
Allophone of /x/ when it occurs beginning of a word. | ||
| Cantabrian | mu?er | [mu?he?] | 'woman' | F- becomes [h]. In most dialects, -LJ- and -C'L- too. May be also realized as [?, ?, ?, x, χ]. | |
| Catalan | ehem | [e?h?m] | 'ha!' | Found in loanwords and interjections. See Catalan phonology | |
| Chechen | х?ара / hara | [hɑr?] | 'this' | ||
| Chinese | Cantonese | 海 / hói | ? | 'sea' | See Cantonese phonology |
| Taiwanese Mandarin | 海 / hǎi | [ha?????] | A velar fricative [x] for Standard Chinese. See Standard Chinese phonology | ||
| Danish[11] | hus | [?hu??s] | 'house' | Often voiced [?] when between vowels.[11] See Danish phonology | |
| English | high | [ha??] | 'high' | See English phonology and H-dropping | |
| Esperanto | hejmo | [?hejmo] | 'home' | See Esperanto phonology | |
| Eastern Lombard | Val Camonica | Bresa | [?br?ha] | 'Brescia' | Corresponds to /s/ in other varieties. |
| Estonian | hammas | [?hɑm?ɑs] | 'tooth' | See Estonian phonology | |
| Faroese | hon | [ho?n] | 'she' | ||
| Finnish | hammas | [?hɑm?ɑs] | 'tooth' | See Finnish phonology | |
| French | Belgian | hotte | [h?t] | 'pannier' | Found in the region of Liège. See French phonology |
| Galician | Occidental, central, and some oriental dialects | gato | [?h?t?] | 'cat' | Realization of [g] in some dialects. May be also realized as [?, ?, x, χ, ?, ɡ?]. See gheada. |
| Georgian[12] | ????/hava | [hɑvɑ] | 'climate' | ||
| German[13] | Hass | [has] | 'hatred' | See Standard German phonology | |
| Greek | Cypriot[14] | μαχαζ?/mahazi | [maha?zi] | 'shop' | Allophone of /x/ before /a/. |
| Hawaiian[15] | haka | [?h?k?] | 'shelf' | See Hawaiian phonology | |
| Hebrew | ???/har | [h???] | 'mountain' | See Modern Hebrew phonology | |
| Hindi | Standard[7] | ??/ham | [?h?m] | 'we' | See Hindustani phonology |
| Hmong | ?????? / hawm | [ha???] | 'to honor' | ||
| Hungarian | helyes | [?h?j??] | 'right' | See Hungarian phonology | |
| Irish | shroich | [h????] | 'reached' | Appears as the lenited form of 'f', 's' and 't', as well as grammatical pre-aspiration of vowels, & occasionally word-initial as 'h' in borrowed words. See Irish phonology. | |
| Italian | Tuscan[16] | i capitani | [i?h??i?θ??ni] | 'the captains' | Intervocalic allophone of /k/.[16] See Italian phonology |
| Japanese | すはだ / suhada | [s??hada] | 'bare skin' | See Japanese phonology | |
| Javanese | ??/Maha | [m?h?] | The expert, Almighty one | ||
| Kabardian | тхылъхэ/ tkhyl"kh? | [tχ??hɑ] | 'books' | ||
| Kazakh | ша?ар / ?ahar | [?ahɑr] | 'city' | ||
| Khmer | ??? / h??r ???? / ch?s |
[h?r] [cah] |
'spicy' 'old' |
See Khmer phonology | |
| Korean | ?? / heori | [h??i] | 'waist' | See Korean phonology | |
| Lakota | ho | [ho] | 'voice' | ||
| Lao | ???/haa | [ha???] | 'five' | ||
| Leonese | guaje | [?wahe?] | 'boy' | ||
| Lezgian | гьек/hek | [hek] | 'glue' | ||
| Luxembourgish[17] | hei | [hɑ???] | 'here' | See Luxembourgish phonology | |
| Malay | hari | [hari] | 'day' | ||
| Mutsun | hu?ekni? | [hut???kni?] | 'dog' | ||
| Navajo | hastiin | [hàsd?ì?n] | 'mister' | ||
| Norwegian | hatt | [hɑt?] | 'hat' | See Norwegian phonology | |
| Pashto | ??/ho | [ho] | 'yes' | ||
| Persian | ???/haft | [h?ft] | 'seven' | See Persian phonology | |
| Pirah? | hi | [hì] | 'he' | ||
| Portuguese | Many Brazilian dialects[18] | marreta | [ma?het?] | 'sledgehammer' | Allophone of /?/. [h, ?] are marginal sounds to many speakers, particularly out of Brazil. See Portuguese phonology. |
| Most dialects | Honda | [?h??d?] | 'Honda' | ||
| Minas Gerais (mountain dialect) | arte | [?aht?] | 'art' | ||
| Colloquial Brazilian (some dialects)[19][20] | chuvisco | [?u?vihku] | 'drizzle' | Corresponds to either /s/ or /?/ (depending on dialect) in the syllable coda. Might also be deleted. | |
| Quechua | Standard | hatun | [hatu?] | 'big' | The elderly still maintain the pronunciation of /h/, but the young changed the pronunciation to /x/. |
| Romanian | h?? | [h?ts] | 'bridle' | See Romanian phonology | |
| Scottish Gaelic | ro-sheòl | [???h???] | 'topsail'[21] | Lenited form of /t/, /s/, see Scottish Gaelic phonology | |
| Serbo-Croatian | Croatian[22] | hmelj | [hmê???] | 'hops' | Allophone of /x/ when it is initial in a consonant cluster.[22] See Serbo-Croatian phonology |
| Spanish[23] | Andalusian, Canarian, and Extremaduran Spanish | higo | [?hi?o?] | 'fig' | Corresponds to Old Spanish /h/, which was developed from Latin /f/ but muted in other dialects. |
| Many dialects | obispo | [o??β?ihpo?] | 'bishop' | Allophone of /s/ at the end of a syllable. See Spanish phonology | |
| Some dialects | jaca | [?haka] | 'pony' | Corresponds to /x/ in other dialects. | |
| Swedish | hatt | [?hat?] | 'hat' | See Swedish phonology | |
| Sylheti | ?????/hamukh | [hamux] | 'snail' | ||
| Tagalog | tahimik | [t??him?k] | 'quiet' | See Tagalog phonology | |
| Tamil | ??? | [h??i] | 'Hari' | See Tamil phonology | |
| Tatar | ?ава/hawa | [hawa] | 'air' | See Tatar phonology | |
| Telugu | ???????? | [ant?ahpuram] | 'Women's quarters'/ 'Harem' | See Visarga | |
| Thai | ???/haa | [ha???] | 'five' | ||
| Turkish | hal? | [h????] | 'carpet' | See Turkish phonology | |
| Ubykh | дуаха | [dwaha] | 'prayer' | See Ubykh phonology | |
| Ukrainian | к?гт? | [?kiht???i] | 'claws' | Sometimes when [?] is devoiced. See Ukrainian phonology. | |
| Urdu | Standard[7] | ??/ham | [?h?m] | 'we' | See Hindi-Urdu phonology |
| Vietnamese[24] | hi?u | [hjew???] | 'understand' | See Vietnamese phonology | |
| Welsh | haul | [?ha?l] | 'sun' | See Welsh orthography | |
| West Frisian | hoeke | [?huk?] | 'corner' | ||
| Yi | ? / hxa | [ha?] | 'hundred' | ||
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ Smyth (1920, §16: description of stops and h)
- ^ Wright & Wright (1925, §7h: initial h)
- ^ Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:325–326)
- ^ Ladefoged (1990), p. 24–25.
- ^ Garellek et al. (2021).
- ^ Qian 2003, pp.14-16.
- ^ a b c Thelwall (1990:38)
- ^ Dum-Tragut (2009:13)
- ^ Hualde & Ortiz de Urbina (2003:24)
- ^ "Blackfoot Pronunciation and Spelling Guide". Native-Languages.org. Retrieved 2025-08-04.
- ^ a b Gr?nnum (2005:125)
- ^ Shosted & Chikovani (2006:255)
- ^ Kohler (1999:86–87)
- ^ Arvaniti (1999:175)
- ^ Ladefoged (2005:139)
- ^ a b Hall (1944:75)
- ^ Gilles & Trouvain (2013:67–68)
- ^ Barbosa & Albano (2004:5–6)
- ^ (in Portuguese) Pará Federal University – The pronunciation of /s/ and its variations across Bragan?a municipality's Portuguese Archived 2025-08-04 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ (in Portuguese) Rio de Janeiro Federal University – The variation of post-vocallic /S/ in the speech of Petrópolis, Itaperuna and Paraty Archived 2025-08-04 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "ro-sheòl". www.faclair.com. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
- ^ a b Landau et al. (1999:68)
- ^ Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003:258)
- ^ Thompson (1959:458–461)
References
edit- Arvaniti, Amalia (1999), "Cypriot Greek" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 29 (2): 173–178, doi:10.1017/S002510030000654X, S2CID 163926812
- Barbosa, Plínio A.; Albano, Eleonora C. (2004), "Brazilian Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (2): 227–232, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001756
- Dum-Tragut, Jasmine (2009), Armenian: Modern Eastern Armenian, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company
- Gilles, Peter; Trouvain, Jürgen (2013), "Luxembourgish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (1): 67–74, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000278
- Gr?nnum, Nina (2005), Fonetik og fonologi, Almen og Dansk (3rd ed.), Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag, ISBN 87-500-3865-6
- Hall, Robert A. Jr. (1944). "Italian phonemes and orthography". Italica. 21 (2). American Association of Teachers of Italian: 72–82. doi:10.2307/475860. JSTOR 475860.
- Hualde, José Ignacio; Ortiz de Urbina, Jon, eds. (2003), A grammar of Basque, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, ISBN 3-11-017683-1
- Kohler, Klaus (1999), "German", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge University Press, pp. 86–89, ISBN 0-521-63751-1
- Ladefoged, Peter (2005), Vowels and Consonants (Second ed.), Blackwell
- Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19815-6.
- Landau, Ernestina; Lon?ari?, Mijo; Horga, Damir; ?kari?, Ivo (1999), "Croatian", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 66–69, ISBN 0-521-65236-7
- Laufer, Asher (1991), "Phonetic Representation: Glottal Fricatives", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 21 (2): 91–93, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004448, S2CID 145231104
- Martínez-Celdrán, Eugenio; Fernández-Planas, Ana Ma; Carrera-Sabaté, Josefina (2003), "Castilian Spanish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (2): 255–259, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001373
- Shosted, Ryan K.; Chikovani, Vakhtang (2006), "Standard Georgian" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 36 (2): 255–264, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002659
- Smyth, Herbert Weir (1920). A Greek Grammar for Colleges. American Book Company. Retrieved 1 January 2014 – via CCEL.
- Thelwall, Robin (1990), "Illustrations of the IPA: Arabic", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 20 (2): 37–41, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004266, S2CID 243640727
- Thompson, Laurence (1959), "Saigon phonemics", Language, 35 (3): 454–476, doi:10.2307/411232, JSTOR 411232
- Wright, Joseph; Wright, Elizabeth Mary (1925). Old English Grammar (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.