| Ipa Symbol: | ħ |
| Ipa Number: | 144 |
| Decimal1: | 295 |
| X-Sampa: | X\ |
| Kirshenbaum: | H |
| Braille: | ! |
| Braille2: | h |
| Imagefile: | IPA Unicode 0x0127.svg |
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, (IPA|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 pronounced as /link/.
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).
| Language | Word | Meaning | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| '''хI'''ахъвы/ | pronounced as /[ħaqʷə]/ | 'stone' | ||||
| Abkhazian: '''ҳ'''ара/ | pronounced as /[ħaˈra]/ | 'we' | See Abkhaz phonology | |||
| Adyghe; Adygei: т'''хь'''э//Adyghe; Adygei: ت'''ح'''ە | 'god' | |||||
| му'''хI'''/ | pronounced as /[muħ]/ | 'barn' | ||||
| Amis[1] | tudu'''h''' | pronounced as /[tuɮuħ]/ | 'burn, roast' | Word-final allophone of /pronounced as /link//. | ||
| Arabic: [[Arabic alphabet|'''ح'''ال]]|rtl=yes/ | 'situation' | See Arabic phonology | ||||
| Essaouira | Arabic: [[Arabic alphabet|شلو'''ح''']]|rtl=yes | pronounced as /[ʃlɵːħ]/ | 'chleuh' | |||
| '''хI'''ал/ | pronounced as /[ħal]/ | 'state' | ||||
| [[Syriac alphabet|ܡܫܝ'''ܚ'''ܐ]] | pronounced as /[mʃiːħɔ]/ | 'Christ' | Corresponds with [x] in most other dialects. | |||
| Atayal | '''h'''iyan | pronounced as /[ħijan]/ | 'in/at/on him/her/it' | |||
| Avaric: '''xI'''ебецI//Avaric: '''ح'''ېبېض | pronounced as /[ħeˈbetsʼ]/ | 'earwax' | ||||
| Azerbaijani: ə'''h'''daş | pronounced as /[æħd̪ɑʃ]/ | 'instrument' | ||||
| Chechen: [[Cyrillic script|'''xь'''ач]]/Chechen: '''ẋ'''aç/Chechen: '''حـ'''اچ | 'plum' | |||||
| pronounced as /[ħɒɹɪbəl]/ | 'horrible' | Glottal pronounced as /link/ for other speakers. See English phonology | ||||
| French[2] | Some speakers | French: fai'''r'''e | pronounced as /[feː(ă)ħ]/ | 'to do, to make' | ||
| Some dialects | Galician: '''g'''ato | pronounced as /[ˈħatʊ]/ | 'cat' | Corresponds to pronounced as //ɡ// in other dialects. See Galician phonology and gheada | ||
| Hebrew: [[Hebrew alphabet|'''חַ'''שְׁמַל]]|rtl=yes/ | 'electricity' | Merged with pronounced as /link/ for most modern speakers. See Modern Hebrew phonology. | ||||
| Temani | Hebrew: [[Hebrew alphabet|אֶ'''חָ'''דֿ]]/aḥoḏ | pronounced as /[æˈħɔð]/ | 'one' | Yemenite pronunciation of the letter chet. Merged with /pronounced as /ink// in most other dialects. See Yemenite Hebrew | ||
| Ladino: '''Ḥ'''aketía | pronounced as /[ħakeˈti.a]/ | 'Haketia' | Borrowed from Arabic and Hebrew | |||
| Kabardian: [[Cyrillic script|кхъу'''хь''']]/Kabardian: ꝗv'''ɦ'''/Kabardian: ٯّو'''ح''' | 'ship' | |||||
| Kabyle: [[Tifinagh|ⴰ'''ⵃ'''ⴻⴼⴼⴰⴼ]]/Kabyle: [[Berber Latin alphabet|a'''ḥ'''effaf]]/Kabyle: [[Berber Arabic alphabet|ا'''حـ'''فاف]] | pronounced as /[aħəfːaf]/ | 'hairdresser' | ||||
| pronounced as /[biːħ]/ | 'twenty' | pronounced as //ħ// historically derives from pronounced as //s// and occurs word-finally | ||||
| Most speakers | Kurdish: '''ḧ'''ol | 'environment' | Corresponds to pronounced as //h// in some Kurdish dialects | |||
| Standard | Maltese: [[Maltese alphabet|wie'''ħ'''ed]] | pronounced as /[wiːħet]/ | 'one' | |||
| ʔaap-'''ḥ'''ii | pronounced as /[ʔaːpˈħiː]/ | 'friendly' | ||||
| ha'''x'''danahâ | pronounced as /[haħdanahã]/ | 'yesterday' | ||||
| Somali: '''x'''ood/Somali: '''حٗـ'''ود/Somali: '''''' | 'cane' | See Somali phonology | ||||
| '''ḥ'''emm/'''ⵀ'''ⵎ | pronounced as /[ħem]/ | 'goodbye' | ||||
| Ukrainian: [[Ukrainian alphabet|ні'''г'''ті]]/ | pronounced as /[ˈnʲiħtʲi]/ | 'fingernails' | Allophone of pronounced as //ʕ// (which may be transcribed pronounced as //ɦ//) before voiceless consonants; can be fronted to pronounced as /link/ in some "weak positions". See Ukrainian phonology | |||
pronounced as /navigation/