Gheada

Gheada in the Galician language is the debuccalization of the phonemes /g/ (voiced velar stop) and /ɣ/ (voiced velar fricative) resulting in one of the following variations:

• /ħ/ voiceless pharyngeal fricative
• /h/ voiceless glottal fricative like the "h" in English "house"

At times, the sound is also articulated as /x/ voiceless velar fricative like in some Peninsular Spanish pronunciations of "jamón".

A predominant linguistic phenomenon, gheada is attested throughout the western half of Spain's Galician-speaking region: in the provinces of A Coruña, Pontevedra, the westernmost part of Lugo, and the western half of Ourense. In the last two provinces, however, gheada is diminishing.

Orthographic representation

In Galician or Spanish dialogue, this pronunciation is represented by the digraph gh.

Examples:

• "gato" ['gato] (cat) --> "ghato" ['ħato]
• "pago" ['paɣo] (payment) --> "pagho" ['paħo]

See also

• Seseo

External links

• Map of gheada and seseo use in Galician-speaking areas
• The Use of Gheada in Three Generations of Women from Carballo, A Coruña by Juan Antonio Thomas, the University at Albany