# Voiceless pharyngeal fricative

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⟩.
Typically characterized as fricative in the upper pharynx, it is often characterized as a whispered [h].

## Features

Features of the voiceless pharyngeal fricative:
* Its manner of articulation is fricative, which means it is produced by constricting air flow through a narrow channel at the place of articulation, causing turbulence.
* Its place of articulation is pharyngeal, which means it is articulated with the tongue root against the back of the throat (the pharynx).
* 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.
* It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
* 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

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 | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Abaza | Abaza | хIахъвы/kh'akh"vy | [ħaqʷə] | 'stone' | |
| Abkhaz | Abkhaz | ҳара/khara | [ħaˈra] | 'we' | See Abkhaz phonology |
| Adyghe | Adyghe | тхьэ/tkh'ė/تحە | | 'god' | |
| Afar | Afar | dalcu | [dʌlħu] | 'striped hyena' | |
| Agul | Agul | мухI/mukh' | [muħ] | 'barn' | |
| Amis | Amis | tuduh | [tuɮuħ] | 'burn, roast' | Word-final allophone of /ʜ/. |
| Arabic | | ح‍ال/ḥal | | 'situation' | See Arabic phonology |
| Arabic | Essaouira | شلوح (šlūḥ) | [ʃlɵːħ] | 'chleuh' | |
| Archi | Archi | хIал/kh'al | [ħal] | 'state' | |
| Central Neo-Aramaic | Turoyo | ܡܫܝܚܐ (mšìḥo) | [mʃiːħɔ] | 'Christ' | Corresponds with in most other dialects. |
| Atayal | Atayal | hiyan | [ħijan] | 'in/at/on him/her/it' | |
| Avar | Avar | xIебецI/kh'ebets'/حېبېض | [ħeˈbetsʼ] | 'earwax' | |
| Azerbaijani | Azerbaijani | əhdaş | [æħd̪ɑʃ] | 'instrument' | |
| Chechen | Chechen | xьач/ẋaç/حـاچ | | 'plum' | |
| English | Some speakers, mostly of Received Pronunciation | horrible | [ħɒɹɪbəl] | 'horrible' | Glottal [h] for other speakers. See English phonology |
| French | Some speakers | faire | [feː(ă)ħ] | 'to do, to make' | |
| Galician | 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. |
| Hebrew | Temani | אֶחָדֿ/aḥoḏ | [æˈħɔð] | 'one' | Yemenite pronunciation of the letter chet. Merged with /χ/ in most other dialects. See Yemenite Hebrew |
| Leonese | Riberan | harina | [ħaˈɾi.na] | 'flour' | |
| Judaeo-Spanish | Haketia | Ḥaketía | [ħakeˈti.a] | 'Haketia' | Borrowed from Arabic and Hebrew |
| Kabardian | Kabardian | кхъухь/ꝗvɦ/ٯّوح | | 'ship' | |
| Kabyle | Kabyle | ⴰⵃⴻⴼⴼⴰⴼ/aḥeffaf/احـفاف | [aħəfːaf] | 'hairdresser' | |
| Kullui | Kullui | | [biːħ] | 'twenty' | /ħ/ historically derives from /s/ and occurs word-finally |
| Kurdish | Most speakers | ḧol | | 'environment' | Corresponds to /h/ in some Kurdish dialects |
| Maltese | Standard | wieħed | [wiːħet] | 'one' | |
| Nuu-chah-nulth | Nuu-chah-nulth | ʔaap-ḥii | [ʔaːpˈħiː] | 'friendly' | |
| Sioux | Nakota | haxdanahâ | [haħdanahã] | 'yesterday' | |
| Somali | Somali | xood/حٗـود/𐒄𐒝𐒆 | | 'cane' | See Somali phonology |
| Tarifit | Tarifit | ḥemm/ⵀⵎ | [ħem] | 'goodbye' | |
| Ukrainian | Ukrainian | нігті/nihti | [ˈnʲiħtʲi] | 'fingernails' | Allophone of /ʕ/ (which may be transcribed /ɦ/) before voiceless consonants; can be fronted to [x] in some "weak positions". See Ukrainian phonology |