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IPA – number	144
IPA – text	ħ
IPA – image
Entity	ħ
X-SAMPA	X\
Kirshenbaum	H
Sound sample (help·info)

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 h-bar (ħ), and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is X\.

Contents 1 Features 2 Occurrence 3 See also 4 References

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 root of the tongue against the pharynx
• Its phonation type is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords.
• It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth.
• Because it is pronounced in the throat, without a component in the mouth, the central/lateral dichotomy does not apply.
• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic egressive, which means it is articulated by pushing air out of the lungs and through the vocal tract, rather than from the glottis or the mouth.

This sound is the most commonly cited realization of the Semitic letter hēth, which occurs in most dialects of Arabic, Classical Syriac, as well as Biblical and Tiberian Hebrew. It has also been reconstructed as appearing in Ancient Egyptian, a related Afro-Asiastic language. Modern Hebrew has 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).^[1]

This sound occurs as a phoneme in the Haida dialects spoken in Canada.

Another language where a true voiceless pharyngeal fricative occurs is the Burkikhan dialect of Agul (a Northeast Caucasian language), where it contrasts with the voiced pharyngeal fricative, the voiceless epiglottal fricative, and the epiglottal plosive. An example is the word [muħ] "barn" and its plural [muħar].^[1]

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Abkhaz		ҳара	[ħaˈra]	'we'
Arabic		واحد	['wæːħɪd]	'one'	See Arabic phonology
Avar		xIебецI	[ħeˈbetsʼ]	'earwax'
Hebrew		חַשְׁמַל	[ħaʃmaːl]	'electricity'	Sephardic pronunciation, see Hebrew phonology
Chechen		xъач/ẋaç	[ħatʃ]	'plum'
Kabardian		щхьэ	[ɕħæ]	'head'
Kabyle		aḥeffaf	[aħəffaf]	'hairdresser'
Kurdish		hol	[ħol]	'environment'	Voiceless glottal fricative in most Kurdish dialects
Somali		xood	[ħoːd]	'cane'
Cuban Spanish		jacas	[ˈħagah]	'ponies'	Havana dialect

• List of phonetics topics
• Pharyngeal fricative
• Heth

1. ^ ^{a b} Ladefoged, Peter; Ian Maddieson. The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell, 167–68. ISBN 0-631-19815-6. 

Consonants (List, table)	See also: IPA, Vowels
Pulmonics Bilabial Lab'den. Dental Alveolar Postalv. Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyn. Epiglottal Glottal Non-pulmonics and other symbols Nasals m ɱ n̪ n ɳ ɲ ŋ ɴ Clicks  ʘ ǀ ǃ ǂ ǁ Plosives p b p̪ b̪ t̪ d̪ t d ʈ ɖ c ɟ k ɡ q ɢ ʡ ʔ Implo­­sives  ɓ ɗ ʄ ɠ ʛ Fricatives  ɸ β f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ç ʝ x ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ ʜ ʢ h ɦ Ejec­­tives  pʼ tʼ kʼ qʼ sʼ Approximants  β̞ ʋ ð̞ ɹ ɻ j ɰ Other laterals  ɺ ɫ Trills ʙ r • ʀ • Co-articulated approximants ʍ w ɥ Flaps & Taps ѵ̟ ѵ ɾ ɽ • Co-articulated fricatives ɕ ʑ ɧ Lat. Fricatives ɬ ɮ • • • Affricates  ʦ ʣ ʧ ʤ Lat. Appr'mants l ɭ ʎ ʟ Co-articulated stops  k͡p ɡ͡b ŋ͡m
This page contains phonetic information in IPA, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help] Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a voiced consonant. Shaded areas denote pulmonic articulations judged impossible.