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 .
A sound may have real glottal constriction in a number of languages (such as Finnish), 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, 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.
Northern Wu languages such as Shanghainese contrast voiced and voiceless glottal fricatives.Qian 2003, pp.14-16. The two glottal fricatives pattern like plosives.
Features 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. 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 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 , and accordingly has only the place of articulation of these surrounding vowels.
Occurrence Language Word IPA Meaning Notes Afrikaans Standard 'how' Azeri Standard / 'solid' AlbanianNorthern Tosk 'and immediately the traveller'Occasional allophone of in connected speech.BengaliˈelephentSee Bengali phonology Basque Northeastern dialects 'here' Can be voiceless instead. Croatian Some speakers hajde 'lets go' Czech 'guest' See Czech phonology Danish 'I wonder if it has rained.' Common allophone of between vowels. See Danish phonology Dutch 'hoped' Lenis glottal consonant undefined for voicing. See Dutch phonology English Australian behind 'behind' Allophone of between voiced sounds. See Australian English phonology and English phonology Received Pronunciation Broad South African hand 'hand' Some speakers, only before a stressed vowel. Estonian 'money' Allophone of between voiced sounds. See Estonian phonology and Finnish phonology Finnish French Quebec 'to eat' Allophone of for a limited minority of speakers. Can also be realized as a voiceless . Hebrew 'fast' Occurs as an allophone of between voiced sounds. See Modern Hebrew phonology Hindustani / 'am' See Hindustani phonology Hungarian Some speakers 'so' Intervocalic allophone of . Occurs as voiceless for other speakers. See Hungarian phonology Japanese Some speakers / 'speak a little bit' Indonesian Some speakers 'ingredient' Kalabari 'introduction' Korean / 'travel' Occurs as an allophone of between voiced sounds. See Korean phonology Limburgish 'heart' The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect. See Maastrichtian dialect phonology Lithuanian 'humour' Often pronounced instead of [ɣ]. See Lithuanian phonology Marathi 'garland' Odia /haḷa 'plough' Nepali 'solution' See Nepali phonology Parkari Koli 'desolate, deserted' PolishPodhale dialect 'fire hydrant' Contrasts with . Standard Polish possesses only . See Polish phonologyKresy dialect Portuguese Many speakers 'chopsticks' Allophone of . are marginal sounds to many speakers, particularly out of Brazil. See Portuguese phonology and guttural R Many Brazilian dialects 'this youth' (m.) Mineiro dialect 'to sleep' Before other voiced consonants, otherwise realized as . Some Brazilian dialects 'same' Corresponds to either or (depending on dialect) in the syllable coda. Might also be deleted. Cearense dialect 'people' Debuccalized from , or . Punjabi / 'air' Riffian Berber 'to go down' Romanian Transylvanian dialects 'coat' Corresponds to in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonologySanskrit / 'hand'See Sanskrit phonologySardinianNorthern Logudorese Sardinianalga / agha'garbage'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. Silesian 'gooseberry' Slovak 'mountain' See Slovak phonology Slovene Littoral dialects This is a general feature of all Slovene dialects west of the Škofja Loka–Planina line. Corresponds to in other dialects. See Slovene phonologyRovte dialectsRosen Valley dialect Sylheti / 'dried fish' Telugu 'Consonant' Ukrainian 'voice' Wu Shanghainese / 'language' See Northern Wu phonology Suzhounese / 'fourth day of a Western month'Xukuru Zulu 'horse'
Nasal
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 . Swazi distinguishes .
Language Word IPA Meaning Notes Basque Zuberoan Also: 'dew, frost' Phonemic Lizu 'mushroom' Nasalization of glottals always occurs in glottal-initial words.Umbundu Also preprint. UCSD. Contrasts with
See also Creaky-voiced glottal approximant
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