# Voiced glottal fricative

The voiced glottal fricative, sometimes called breathy-voiced glottal transition, is a type of sound used in some spoken languages which 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 ⟨ɦ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is h\.
In many 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. It may have real glottal constriction in a number of languages (such as Finnish), making it a fricative.
Northern Wu languages such as Shanghainese contrast the voiced and voiceless glottal fricatives. The two glottal fricatives pattern like plosives.

## Features

Features of the 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". Strictly speaking this is incorrect, as there is no voicing.
* 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 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

| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Afrikaans | Standard | hoekom | [ɦu.kɔm] | 'why' | |
| Azeri | Standard | möhkəm / مؤحکم | [mœːɦcæm] | 'solid' | |
| Albanian | Northern Tosk | dhe menjëherë udhëtari | [ðɛ miɲɜˈɦɛɹoθˈtaɽ̞i] | 'and immediately the traveller' | Occasional allophone of /h/ in connected speech. |
| Basque | Northeastern dialects | hemen | [ɦemen] | 'here' | Can be voiceless [h] instead. |
| Czech | Czech | hlava | [ˈɦlävä] | 'head' | See Czech phonology |
| Danish | Danish | Mon det har regnet? | [- te̝ ɦɑ -] | 'I wonder if it has rained.' | Common allophone of /h/ between vowels. See Danish phonology |
| Dutch | Dutch | haat | [ɦaːt] | 'hate' | See Dutch phonology |
| English | Australian | behind | [bəˈɦɑe̯nd] | 'behind' | Allophone of /h/ between voiced sounds. See Australian English phonology and English phonology |
| English | Received Pronunciation | behind | [bɪˈɦaɪ̯nd] | 'behind' | Allophone of /h/ between voiced sounds. See Australian English phonology and English phonology |
| English | Broad South African | hand | [ˈɦɛn̪t̪] | 'hand' | Some speakers, only before a stressed vowel. |
| Estonian | Estonian | raha | [ˈrɑɦɑ] | 'money' | Allophone of /h/ between voiced sounds. See Estonian phonology and Finnish phonology |
| Allophone of /h/ between voiced sounds. See Estonian phonology and Finnish phonology ||
| French | Quebec | manger | [mãɦe] | 'to eat' | Limited to a minority of speakers. Can also be realized as a voiceless [h]. |
| Hebrew | Hebrew | מַהֵר‎ | | 'fast' | Occurs as an allophone of /h/ between voiced sounds. See Modern Hebrew phonology |
| Hindustani | Hindustani | हूँ / ہوں | [ɦũː] | 'am' | See Hindustani phonology |
| Hungarian | Some speakers | tehát | [tɛɦaːt] | 'so' | Intervocalic allophone of /h/. Occurs as voiceless /h/ for other speakers. See Hungarian phonology |
| Japanese | Some speakers | 少し話して / sukoshi hanashite | [sɯkoɕi ɦanaɕi̥te] | 'speak a little bit' | |
| Indonesian | Some speakers | bahan | [baˈɦan] | 'ingredient' | |
| Kalabari | Kalabari | hóín | [ɦóĩ́] | 'introduction' | |
| Korean | Korean | 여행 / yeohaeng | [jʌɦεŋ] | 'travel' | Occurs as an allophone of /h/ between voiced sounds. See Korean phonology |
| Limburgish | Limburgish | hart | [ɦɑ̽ʀ̝t] | 'heart' | The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect. See Maastrichtian dialect phonology |
| Lithuanian | Lithuanian | humoras | [ˈɦʊmɔrɐs̪] | 'humour' | Often pronounced instead of [ɣ]. See Lithuanian phonology |
| Marathi | Marathi | हार | [ɦaːɾ] | 'garland' | |
| Odia | Odia | ହଳ/haḷa | [ɦɔɭɔ] | 'plough' | |
| Nepali | Nepali | हल | [ɦʌl] | 'solution' | See Nepali phonology |
| Parkari Koli | Parkari Koli | ۿُونَواڙ‎ | [ɦuːnaʋaːɽ] | 'desolate, deserted' | |
| Polish | Podhale dialect | hydrant | [ˈɦɘ̟d̪rän̪t̪] | 'fire hydrant' | Contrasts with /x/. Standard Polish possesses only /x/. See Polish phonology |
| Polish | Kresy dialect | hydrant | [ˈɦɘ̟d̪rän̪t̪] | 'fire hydrant' | Contrasts with /x/. Standard Polish possesses only /x/. See Polish phonology |
| Portuguese | Many Brazilian dialects | esse 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 |
| Portuguese | Many speakers | hashi | [ɦɐˈʃi] | 'chopsticks' | Allophone of /ʁ/. [h, ɦ] are marginal sounds to many speakers, particularly out of Brazil. See Portuguese phonology and guttural R |
| Portuguese | Some Brazilian dialects | mesmo | [ˈmeɦmu] | 'same' | Corresponds to either /s/ or /ʃ/ (depending on dialect) in the syllable coda. Might also be deleted. |
| Portuguese | Cearense dialect | gente | [ˈɦẽnt͡ʃi] | 'people' | Debuccalized from [ʒ], [v] or [z]. |
| Portuguese | Mineiro dialect | dormir | [doɦˈmi(h)] | 'to sleep' | Before other voiced consonants, otherwise realized as [h]. |
| Punjabi | Punjabi | ਹਵਾ / ہوا | [ɦə̀ʋä̌ː] | 'air' | |
| Riffian Berber | Riffian Berber | hwa | [ɦwæ] | 'to go down' | |
| Romanian | Transylvanian dialects | haină | [ˈɦajnə] | 'coat' | Corresponds to [h] in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology |
| Sanskrit | Sanskrit | हस्त / hasta | [ˈɦɐs̪t̪ɐ] | 'hand' | See Sanskrit phonology |
| Silesian | Silesian | hangrys | [ˈɦaŋɡrɨs] | 'gooseberry' | |
| Slovak | Slovak | hora | | 'mountain' | See Slovak phonology |
| Slovene | Littoral dialects | hora | [ˈɦɔra] | 'mountain' | 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 |
| Slovene | Rovte dialects | hora | [ˈɦɔra] | 'mountain' | 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 |
| Slovene | Rosen Valley dialect | hora | | 'mountain' | 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 |
| Sylheti | Sylheti | ꠢꠥꠐꠇꠤ / হুটকি | [ɦuʈki] | 'dried fish' | |
| Telugu | Telugu | హల్లు | [ɦəlːu] | 'Consonant' | |
| Ukrainian | Ukrainian | голос | [ˈɦɔlos] | 'voice' | Also described as pharyngeal [ʕ]. See Ukrainian phonology |
| Wu | Shanghainese | 閒話 / ghe-gho | [ɦɛ˩ ɦo˦] | 'language' | See Northern Wu phonology |
| Wu | Suzhounese | 四號 / sy$_5$-ghau$_6$ | [sz̩˥˩ ɦæ˧˩] | 'fourth day of a Western month' | See Northern Wu phonology |
| Zulu | Zulu | ihhashi | [iːˈɦaːʃi] | 'horse' | |