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). ==See also==